


A different world

by orphan_account



Series: Weird Saracen AUs [1]
Category: Skulduggery Pleasant - Derek Landy
Genre: Alternate Backstory, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, And Ravel´s betrayal, Angst and Humor, Book 8: Last Stand of Dead Men, Fix-It of Sorts, How Do I Tag, I Tried, I know this is bad, I tried writing banter, I´m in denial about Seasons of war, Mist is a professional mood killer, Multi, My First Work in This Fandom, My first Multichapter work, Tags May Change, This is soooo weird, This was just a thing in my head, but I can only write crack, but i needed it out of my head, kinda BAMF Saracen?, my headcanon, so I fixed both, title may change, very monologue-y villains
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-02
Updated: 2020-10-19
Packaged: 2021-03-07 20:01:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 13
Words: 22,543
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26773321
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: What if Saracen´s power was not what it was revealed to be in Seasons of War? What if it was something much more powerful? And what if Ravel was not evil? What if the Man with the Golden Eyes was someone else?What if these things happened in the same universe?How would that affect the plot of Last Stand of the Dead Men?
Relationships: pre Ghastly Bespoke/Tanith Low
Series: Weird Saracen AUs [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1984967
Comments: 7
Kudos: 12





	1. The bomb

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sooooo, this is kinda just my headcanon but in a story. It was just in my head at first and I don´t really know if it makes sense to anyone who isn´t me.
> 
> Like I said it is based on my headcanon and won´t really make sense if you don´t know what that is. I explained it in the notes at the end of the chapter.  
> It will also be explained in the story but relatively late. It´s your decision whether you want to read it now or find out with the characters. Just don´t expect everything to make sense immediately.

The first attack after Ravel and Ghastly left, taking a huge part of their forces with them, came without warning. The siegers were surprised but recovered quickly, they reacted and the fighting began. Saracen hated the fighting. “This is not how it should have gone“, he thought while breaking his opponents jaw with a well calculated punch. The man went down screaming, Saracen whirled around, immediately looking for the next attacker. After all these years of war, it had become second nature to him. A man with axes instead of hands ran towards him, howling with rage. Saracen could see the energy in his body shifting. He was gonna swipe with his right. Saracen ducked as the expected blow came and delivered one of his own to the axe man’s solar plexus. He fell to the ground and a kick to his head assured he would stay there for the next few hours. Saracen looked around again. 

Despite Dexter’s jokes about his decreasing stamina he wasn’t sweating, not even breathing hard. Saracen knew why. In this explosion of energy that was the battlefield even his damaged powers could not help but absorb a bit of it. He could last much longer. Still they were going to lose. Ravel, Ghastly and the Cleavers were gone, the vampires didn’t appear to be coming. They had lost their advantage of numbers and the attackers still had the high ground, never mind the superior strategist that was General Mantis. Saracen shuddered when he thought of the Crenga. He couldn’t help but think of another member of their species that had done unimaginable things to him, broken him. That was now working for his sanctuary. 

Saracen pushed this particular thought away and focussed back on the fighting. He hated having the Crenga around but he knew they needed him. He was the best, after all. That’s why Mevolent had chosen him too. He would never, could never forgive him but his personal issues were no reason to lose such an important asset. He wasn’t even a danger to Saracen’s secret. The Crenga didn’t seem to remember him.

Two men came at him at once and forced Saracen to pick up a second sword and wield it with his injured hand alone. While they were no match for him, high on the battlefield’s energy and adrenaline, using his hand made him hiss in pain. It had been cut by one of the assassins Madame Mist had sent after them and Saracen had hoped not to have to use it too much, even going so far as too choose a two-handed sword to avoid putting too much strain on it alone. Now it was definitely bleeding again. The healers would kill him if the fight didn’t do it first.

Of course, Saracen knew that that was untrue. He was a Dead Man. He knew too much and would be a valuable hostage. If in any way possible, they would take him alive. Saracen hated being taken prisoner. The feeling of handcuffs on his wrists made his breath quicken and his skin crawl with half-forgotten memories of pain. He had become better at hiding it but had never been able to completely shake it.

So Saracen would just have to avoid getting captured. He had lost himself in the routine that fighting had become for him for a few minutes and right now the Irish forces were doing pretty well. Maybe they could win this after all. Just as he began getting his hopes up, he spotted a blinding ball of energy surging towards them through the sky and his heart stopped.

\--------------------

Valkyrie was having a very bad day. Ravel and Ghastly had left to deal with Mist and Moloch had been killed by Dusk. This fight that had almost been won already had turned into a struggle for survival. It wasn’t her first fight but it was her first war and when she had pictured a battlefield, she had pictured heroical deaths for the greater good and not being sprayed all over with others´ blood and mud. Maybe that was naive of her after all she already knew about fighting but Hollywood had left a certain picture in her mind. Now she was angry at herself for ever believing in something so stupid. 

She really needed a shower. 

If these weren’t the clothes Ghastly had made for her, she would probably have burned them, smeared with blood and grime as they were. Valkyrie thought there may be a tooth stuck in her hair somewhere. It certainly felt like a tooth. She groped around in her ponytail until she could pull it out and then flicked it away in disgust.  
Yep, definitely a tooth.

Just as she thought her day couldn’t get worse, she heard a high-pitched noise coming from the sky. Annoyed she looked up to glare at whatever had decided to ruin her day even more and spotted a tiny black dot that seemed to be coming towards them. As she stood their looking, others started to notice it too and the fighting slowed and then came to a stop. Soon everybody was glancing uneasily at the approaching object, a worried murmur going around the crowd.

What is that?

Then they seemed to come to a conclusion, as panicked shouts began to sound and everyone started running away from the now clearly identifiable figure.  
Bomb.

Valkyrie was running too, she hadn’t even noticed it, her body had just reacted. Those few seconds might save her life now. But it was unlikely. The bomb was too close already, the crowd too big and panicked. They were all stumbling and trampling over each other, slowing each other down. They wouldn’t make it. 

“Hey, can Darquesse still save me after I’ve been blown to bits?”, she wondered briefly and immediately felt guilty for the thought.

Then the bomb hit and she was blown away by the shock wave. She hit the ground hard and instinctually tried to raise her arm to protect her head but someone else fell on top of her and her head collided with the stone.

In the split second before everything went black, she wondered if the ground had always felt so weirdly planty.

\--------------------

While everyone around him panicked at tried to run away, Saracen ran towards the bomb. His mind felt eerily calm as he fought against the tide. If he ran now, he might make it but hundreds of others would not. He knew this wouldn’t work, it hadn’t in years. But he still had to try. 

Then he reached the emptying centre of the battlefield and he could run easier again. No one was stopping him. All that was left here were the dead and the dying. His breath came in short gasps as he ran further. Maybe Dexter had a point after all, without the outside energy to support him, his stamina really was dreadfully low. 

With heaving breaths, he came to a stop in the centre of the field, the bomb just a few hundred meters away. As it came closer Saracen could feel its heat make his clothes smoulder and his skin burn.

“If I survive this, I am going to have one hell of a sunburn”, he thought dazedly as he reached a hand towards the bomb and its energy, trying to channel it. He knew it wouldn’t work, that the paths were blocked.

He hadn’t considered that this much energy would not care about something as pesky as blockades. The energy immediately latched onto him, desperate to be released and tore through his body like a wildfire. He felt like he was being split open and yet the energy burned his wounds closed at the same time, cauterising them, opening them just enough to allow Saracen to use his powers again. He actually laughed out loud. This was working. He could save them. He reached for the power and used it to fix himself. It came as easy to him, as it had centuries ago before he was broken. For a moment everything seemed right. 

But the energy was too much for a single person to contain. Especially with his powers still tender from the healing, the trauma of being ripped open only now starting to catch up with him. He had to let this go, he needed an outlet. There was no time for finesse. He just pushed all of it into the ground, giving it to the plants and making them grow. 

As the last energy left his body, he fell to the ground. Pained but relieved. “It worked”, he thought while the edges of his vision turned dark and he gave himself over to unconsciousness.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, this is not how fics are usually written but here is my headcanon:
> 
> Saracen was part of a religious cult that worshipped the Ancients. Their language was a spoken version of the sigils China uses. Saracen obviously speaks English and Irish but also learned Sigilspeak. It’s his second language because he was not born into the cult but adopted due to his magical potential. The cult was trying to harness true names without the person going insane or accidentally killing themselves. They would try to find out their true name’s, which was easy for them because all true names are in sigilspeak, and then choose them as their chosen ones. As ones chosen name cannot be used against them, their true name was immediately protected. Their true names power decreased after that but they were still immensely powerful. Their powers include energy conducting (absorbing energy from attacks and then using it for sth. else) and copying another’s power similar to Valkyrie. Saracen is not his first chosen name, he changed it after leaving the cult. When Mevolent first surfaced, the cult remained neutral despite him worshipping the faceless ones, the enemies of the Ancients. They were confident that he would never succeed in summoning them because they owned the only book that described those rituals. However, Mevolent knew about this book too and attacked their base, Adare (This name is based on a fanfiction I currently can’t find). He blocked their power in some way and killed most of them, obtained the book and took the rest of them prisoner. He gave those prisoners to Dr Nye to find out how their powers worked, as that was not common knowledge. All the prisoners died except for Saracen who managed to escape. Nye’s experiment had done some damage to his power though and he was no longer able to use it as his pathways for conducting energy were blocked. His only powers were seeing the energy around him, letting him “know“ things. After escaping he joined the rebellion and took on the name Saracen Rue. Saracen because due to his adoption the cult called him an unbeliever at first and Rue due to his regret of their deaths. He never told anyone but Ravel about his powers because he didn’t want to be used because of what he can do again. He only told Ravel because he managed to conduct a tiny bit of energy to save his life from the sickness that had befallen him. Ravel witnessed this and demanded an explanation. 
> 
> In this fic Ravel is not evil. The plot around Madame Mist, Department X and The Man with the Golden Eyes still happens but he is someone else.


	2. In your head

Saracen dreamed he was back home in the tiny farmhouse his parents owned. He saw them accept the money from the foreign monk. It was not much but they were simply glad their demon child would be gone. Not get help. Gone. Then he was whisked away as he had been back then. The next place was familiar too. He was back in the training yard in Adare, sparring with Elaine. He saw her smiling. Saw her call him brother. He felt nothing. This wasn’t real.

The changes became more rapid. They were getting desperate. Nye’s autopsy table, the Army base, Shudder’s birthday, his first time meeting Valkyrie -the child of his gods-, Wolfsong and finally the battle he had just left. Everything was frozen, the bomb still approaching on the horizon. Nobody had noticed it yet. Saracen walked around the statue-like people looking for the one that would move. The sensitive had to be somewhere. He walked slowly, took his time. They would not get into his mind.

Then he saw her, a young, red-headed woman, wandering around the battlefield, just like himself. He held herself like someone who knew what they were doing and expected recognition for it. She had experience. But now she seemed uneasy. She was failing. She had never encountered someone like him.

“I’m not gonna open up, you know”, he said from behind her, making her whirl around in surprise. Her answering smile was shaky. She knew who she was dealing with.

“Saracen Rue”, she said. “I knew a Dead Man’s mind would be hard to breach but I did not expect this. I’m in your mind, there are no shields. Still I can’t access your memories. Why?”

Saracen just smiled. “I’m in your head too.”

For a single moment she froze, then laughed. “You always said you’re not a Sensitive.”

“I’m not.”

“Then what are you?”

The question was inlaid with the authority he had seen in her posture, of a sensitive who had breached his mind. Yet she was no threat to him. Her authority meant nothing here. But just this once he decided to humour her, give her what she wants. He smiled.

“I’m whatever you are.”

\--------------------

Valkyrie’s eyes fluttered open as the Sensitive pulled out of her mind. Good. She wouldn’t have been able to keep Darquesse contained much longer. But why was she stopping now? She had seemed to think she had nearly broken her mind. Valkyrie startled as someone touched her wrists and unlocked the cuffs tying her to the chair. Still dazed she swiped at them with her arm and hit something solid. The person let out a surprised yell and fell over. Valkyrie immediately stood up, snapping flames into her hands and turned to see...

“Saracen?”, she asked incredulously. What was the Adept doing here? Had the Dead Men come to rescue her? But when she looked around Saracen appeared to be alone. At least one of his friends would have been standing guard had they come together. So Saracen was on his own. But why was he here? And where were the others?

“Yes, obviously!”, Saracen just answered propping himself up on his elbows. “Would you mind...?”

It took Valkyrie a few moments to realise he was talking about the fire and she let her hands sink, extinguishing the flames. Saracen seemed to relax a bit. She offered him her hand and helped him up. Then she looked around. They were in a small, wooden room with to chairs. One she had previously been handcuffed to and another one that had most likely been Saracen’s. Both Sensitives were laying on the ground. Unconscious but unharmed.

“Where are the others? What happened?”

Saracen dusted of his suit and began to massage his temples with a grimace. He really looked terrible. There were dark circles underneath his eyes and his hands trembled ever so slightly. He sighed angrily.

“I don’t know. There was the battle, the bomb and since we were apparently captured, we seem to have lost. I can’t say where the others are exactly but Tanith and Donegan are in the next room. I was gonna free them next. I can’t find any other prisoners, so the others probably escaped.”

...or died. It was left unsaid but hung heavily in the air between them. They both knew that it was a very real possibility. Valkyrie still had so many questions like "What happened to the bomb?” and "How did you get out?” but considering Saracen looked like he was about to keel over she decided that now was not the time. She simply nodded and followed Saracen into another room where they indeed found Tanith and Donegan who were also being tended to by Sensitives. They swiftly knocked them out and uncuffed their friends as they were waking up. Donegan simply fell of the chair and Saracen caught another right hook by an awakening Tanith. He grumbled about it loudly and rubbed his jaw. Tanith apologized but didn’t seem to be particularly sorry.

After that it was surprisingly easy to escape the enemies’ base since Saracen always just knew where the patrols and guards were, so they managed to go unseen. It really was an incredibly handy power. Not for the first time Valkyrie wondered what it could be. But she had other things to focus on, like the way Saracen became even paler with every step he took and stumbled frequently. The trembles were now more pronounced and slowly became full on shudders. When they finally left the base, sneaking into a nearby forest, all he did was point in a vague direction and with the words "The others are somewhere that way. I think.” he promptly fell unconscious leaving them in the middle of nowhere, without any idea where they were and a very heavy and very unconscious person on their hands.

Lovely. So the rest was up to them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In case anyone has read as far as this:
> 
> Hi. Did you like it? I have no idea what I´m doing here so some feedback would be appreciated.  
> I have the first 7 chapters of this ready and they should be up some time this weekend. There are 5 more chapters planned after that but I might write more if I get new inspiration or one of them gets too long.  
> No idea when they´ll be done but holidays are coming up so I´ll hopefully have time.


	3. Reunion

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Valkyrie and the others meet up with the rest of the team.

In the end they walked. Valkyrie hated walking. She seemed to be doing way too much of it lately. This time they didn’t even know where they were going but they tried to keep to the direction Saracen had pointed them in. After a few hours of walking, they came upon a street and soon things started to look familiar. They were walking towards Haggard. Why would the others be there? Valkyrie didn’t know but at least she knew her home well enough to find them a safe spot for the night. She dared not to bring her friends home with here and directed them towards Gordon’s instead. Her reflection could take care of her family for a bit more. Maybe Gordon’s wasn’t the safest choice should someone be looking for her but something about the house just made her feel safe. 

That is until she opened the door and heard voices coming from the kitchen. Why would anyone be here? She gestured for the others to be silent and slowly slid towards the kitchen door, shadows already curling around her ring in anticipation of a fight. As she got closer, she started to hear what the voices were saying.

“Don’t worry”, said a male voice that sounded very familiar indeed. “We’ll find her, Skulduggery.”

Skulduggery.

Throwing caution into the wind, Valkyrie threw open the kitchen door, loudly announcing her presence to the room. The occupants startled but then smiled in relief when they recognized her. Dexter, Gracious and Skulduggery were standing in the kitchen. Dexter was perched on the counter with Gracious leaning nearby. Sanguine had leant casually against the door frame but had stumbled and fallen when she came in. She ignored this opportunity to mock him and focussed on the person who really mattered. Skulduggery sat further into the room, alone at the kitchen table, his hat on the table in front of him. Now he stood up. Coming towards her.

“Skulduggery”, she breathed, tears of relief springing to her eyes. He was okay.

He tilted his head and opened his arms. “Valkyrie”, he said in his smooth velvety voice and before he had even finished speaking, she had already thrown herself into his arms crying into his shoulder. A bit more hesitantly his arms came up to reach around her too. It was a weird hug and the angle was awkward never mind the empty nothing between his ribs but it felt so right. Her world hadn’t been right without him.

“I hate to intrude”, came Tanith’s voice from the door shattering the moment without even attempting to sound apologetic. “But he is kinda heavy. Where should I put him down?”

Oh, right. Saracen.

After gesturing vaguely towards the door, Valkyrie followed Tanith into the living room where they dumbed Saracen’s unresponsive body unceremoniously onto the couch. Sanguine tried to kiss her hello but she turned him away. He pouted and sank into the floor. Probably to sulk. Dexter went to get a blanket and returned shortly after, draping a thick, woollen monstrosity over his friend who was worryingly cold to the touch. After he had tucked the other in to his satisfaction and felt his forehead again with a frown, he turned around and crossed his arms.

“Alright, what happened?”

Valkyrie did his best to tell them the story of their escape with Donegan and Tanith chiming in with more or less helpful additions. Donegan mostly complained about having to carry Saracen for most of the trip. After they were finished, Dexter asked them a few more questions, most of which Valkyrie had already asked herself and found no answer too. She didn’t know how Saracen had freed himself nor could she say if the bomb had been sent by Mantis side.

“What even happened to the bomb? I was much too close to survive that blast?”

Skulduggery and Dexter shared an uneasy glance. Then Dexter began to fill her in on what had happened after she had been knocked out.

“We honestly don’t have a clue either. The bomb was coming and everybody panicked. It was hard to see anything in that chaos. Shortly before the bomb hit the ground there was this bright flare of light and a shock wave that was much too small to be the bomb. Then suddenly all plants on the battlefield started growing like crazy. In the confusion, Mantis send out a second squad we hadn’t known about and finished the battle easily. Most of our fighters were knocked out by the shock wave or all wrapped up in vines or something. We barely escaped.”

That certainly explained the weird planty way the ground had felt when she fell but absolutely nothing else. 

“Do we at least know who sent the bomb? It has to be the Supreme Council, right? But was it a shared decision or did one of the members go rogue?”

Dexter and Skulduggery shared another glance. 

“We don’t think it was the Supreme Council, Valkyrie”, one of them said softly. “Think about it. Why would they endanger the only forces they have behind the Irish shield? It doesn’t make sense. Not even they would be so stupid.”

“But then who...?” An icy feeling gripped Valkyrie. Surely not. Even she wouldn’t go that far.

“Just hours before, two of our elders were on that field. Roarhaven didn’t know they had left yet. It was the perfect moment to take over, especially when they could just blame the Supreme Council afterwards. Who would know?”

“But she wouldn’t...Her own people?!”

“I am afraid so”, Skulduggery simply said, brushed of his hat and put it back on. ,,Madame Mist sent that bomb. And she will pay for it.”

He turned. “Gracious, put an announcement onto the Supreme Council’s channel. Tell everyone who sent that bomb and why. Tell Madame Mist that we’re coming for her.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I only just realised that Gordon is still alive as an echo at this point in the books and that the others already know about him.  
> Just pretend he is upstairs or something and they didn't want to disturb him.
> 
> Also someone has actually read this mess of a story already. That made me happy.  
> Hello.


	4. Ravel

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> What has Ravel actually been doing this whole time if he is not evil?

Ravel was surprised at how little resistance he, Ghastly and Anton faced as they wormed their way into the heart of Roarhaven. Sure, they encountered a few hostile sorcerers but they were usually alone and quickly taken care of. The hallways of the sanctuary were almost eerily silent as they cautiously approached the Elder’s room. Their opponents were either really stupid and had not anticipated them showing up or this was a trap.

When they entered the throne room, the door immediately fell shut behind them and a single spotlight illuminated Madame Mist sitting on the Grand Mage’s -on his- chair. Behind her stood another figure shrouded in shadows. It was all very dramatic. 

“Aha, so a trap it is”, Ravel thought to himself. Shudder raised a questioning eyebrow at him but Erskine shook his head.

Not yet.

He put his hands into his pocket to hide their shaking and approached casually despite the fury coiling in his chest that was mixed with just a tad of pity. He had hated the mortals too, a long time ago. Had wanted to rule them. Without the help of his friends he still would. In another universe he might have joined her, betrayed his brothers for an ideal he now saw for what it really was. But in this universe, he didn’t and he couldn’t let pity stop him from doing what must be done. Mist folded her hands on her lab and looked down on him which was rather easy considering the positioning of the thrones.

“Ravel, how surprising to see you” she said in her low, eerie voice. “I am a bit disappointed, I must confess. When I arrange for someone’s death, I expect them to die.”

“Oh, you mean those assassins?”, Ravel asked seemingly uncaring. ,,They were rather easy to take care of, I must say. Having friends who know things just comes in handy.” He gave her a dangerous smile. She simply shook her head.

“I was not indeed talking about the assassins. I was already informed of their failure. I was talking about the bomb I sent towards the Keep shortly after. Imagine my disappointment when I found out that you had already left.”

Ravel froze, his casual, friendly manner dropping immediately. Somewhere behind him Ghastly gasped and Shudder took slow, deep breaths to calm the inner raging of his gist. When Erskine spoke again his voice was icy.

“How dare you do this? They were your people too. Just because you want the power you would have killed them to get to us?”

Mist nodded thoughtfully. “Indeed I did. Or at least, I tried. There were complications. The bomb does not appear to have harmed anyone. You wouldn’t happen to know anything about that, would you?”

Something in Ravel’s mind clicked. Saracen. There was no other way this could have happened. He didn’t know how his old friend had overcome the blockades that sealed his power from him but he evidently had. That was wonderful news! This time his smile was real.

“I really couldn’t say.”

Ghastly watched him questioningly from behind but didn’t say anything. Let him take the lead and watched his back while Ravel focussed on the most dangerous person in the room. She only sighed.

“You’ve made all of this so much more complicated. Now I have to stage you as the one who launched the bomb, conveniently leaving shortly before. I will give you a staged trial and sentence you and the rest of the Dead Men to death. This eventuality was planned for, of course, but it is so much messier. Arrest them!”

On instinct Ravel shifted into a fighting chance and the others behind him did the same. Anton raised an eyebrow again but Ravel shook his head for the second time. They would try to take her alive. The gist was only a backup plan.

Their opponent came out from behind Mist’s -his- throne. It was a Cleaver, dressed in all black. Ravel snapped his fingers. Cleavers were skilled but between the three of them, they should win easily. Just that no flame came. Ghastly behind him was having similar problems. Even Anton looked confused. Madame Mist actually laughed.

“Oh, I am sorry. I couldn’t let you keep your magic, obviously. You might have actually won. All magic is blocked within the room. Not that the Black Cleaver needs it. Do you recognize him, Elder Bespoke? He might have changed a lot over the years but he is still the same man who tried to kill you in that ware house and forced you to turn into stone. You cannot defeat him.”

Ravel and Ghastly exchanged a look and the other shook his head ever so slightly. Anton seemed angry but nodded his agreement. They couldn’t win this. Not without losses. When Erskine looked at Mist again, his jaw was set in a grim expression, all traces of his previous humour gone.

“In that case, we surrender.”

\--------------------

It was simply humiliating to be captured like this. It was a rookie mistake, barging in without knowing what they were up against. They had underestimated Mist’s cunning and how far she was willing to go. Just as she had underestimated Saracen. Not that she knew just how they had stopped that bomb. After the initial time, she hadn’t asked again and Ravel wasn’t planning to bring it up.

After their arrest they had been handcuffed and were being guarded by multiple Cleavers. The Black Cleaver was still standing behind Mist. Silent. Like a shadow. He gave Ravel the creeps. Honestly Ravel was surprised that they hadn’t been led out of the room yet. Mist was working right in front of them, loudly talking about her plans, not hiding anything. She was planning to kill them soon without giving them the chance to say anything. Ravel wasn’t bothered by this. People tried to kill him all the time. Granted, few of them had been as reckless and dangerous as Mist but right now, she was at ease. Confident even. Confident people tended not to watch what they were doing too closely. They made mistakes. So Ravel waited. 

Either she would slip up or they would die anyway.

Some time later, a man entered the throne room. He seemed nervous and was sweating excessively. He went over to Mist, stopping several feet away and eyed the Black Cleaver warily. He didn’t even tilt his head to acknowledge him. Just stood there silently. Still as a statue. After gathering his courage, the man moved closer to Mist to whisper something in her ear and her hands froze in what she was doing. She turned. Asked him something in low tones, too quiet to understand. He answered, wringing his hands. For a moment she just eyed him through her veil while he shifted nervously from one foot to the other. Then she nodded sharply and stood up, walking towards the Dead Men. The nervous man hurried out of the room, seeming glad to finally escape the tension.

“Your friends work fast”, Mist addressed them quietly. “They’ve just put out a global message that I am the who send that bomb. How annoying. I wasn’t planning to address this yet but it seems you have forced my hand. So, are you willing to confess sending that bomb to prevent the civil war your friends seem so desperate to start?”

Ravel smiled wolfishly. “In your dreams, Mist.”

Madame Mist just sighed. “As you wish. Then you may not speak at all.”

She gestured to the Cleavers guarding them and three stepped forth, holding their blades to the neck of each Dead Man. Ravel froze and eyed the metal, inches from his throat. The message was clear. Damned Cleavers. Why did she even have Cleavers? Ravel was so sure he put them under his command only but here they were obeying Mist. Damned meddling Roarhaven sorcerers. Damned Mist, actually being clever. Ravel hated clever villains.

Meanwhile, Mist stepped in front of a large console that had been installed in the throne room. After the tap of a button, a lamb activated casting blue light across the throne room. Hologram technology. They were now visible to all sanctuaries around the globe.

“My friends, my allies, sorcerers of the Supreme Council”, Mist began. “I am here to address certain rumours that have been spread about my person. There was indeed a bomb sent to the Keep that day but it was not sent by me. I am not even capable of such things, since Elder Bespoke and Grand Mage Ravel have been consistently cutting down my authority and trying to get me out of office for years now. They wanted Ireland for themselves and finally took their chance yesterday. They threw that bomb to distract my forces while they attacked the sanctuary. When this failed, they tried to blame it on me. But fear not, the culprits have been captured -at this she gestured at Ravel, Ghastly and Shudder behind her- and will receive a trial. Their crimes will not go unpunished.”

“Lies”, a familiar, smooth voice now hollow with rage cut in. “All lies.”

Ravel felt tempted to laugh. Of course, they would not let this stand. Not his friends.

Not Skulduggery.


	5. I know things

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Saracen wakes up. Mist is a professional mood killer.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I nearly posted the chapters in the wrong order. I hope it´s the right one now.

After putting the message on the global network, they waited. Skulduggery stood unnaturally still while Dexter paced the room, unable to rest for even a second. Valkyrie leant in the doorway, keeping watch. Although it was needless it seemed to make Dexter feel better. Saracen was still out of it. Meanwhile Tanith, Gracious and Donegan explored the kitchen which -naturally- was barely stocked since nobody really lived here. Except Gordon but he was an echo and therefor didn´t count. In the end they ordered takeout. They were just getting ready to devour a giant portion of Thai noodles each when Gracious’ hastily set up computers gave a high-pitched screech and started to show Madame Mist, spreading awful lies about Ravel and Ghastly and finally stepping aside to reveal their friends, blades held to their throats.

“Can you broadcast me too?”, Skulduggery asked, voice dangerously low. If he had been human, he would have shaken with anger. Now he remained still. Too still. The tension and hatred visible in every line of his body.

Gracious swallowed heavily and put his food down. He scooted over to the computers, pushed a few buttons and then nodded at Skulduggery silently. Madame Mist had just finished speaking. Skulduggery leant forwards onto the table, like a predator preparing to jump.

“Lies, all lies”, he accused in his smooth voice and they could see the Dead Men on the monitor inhale sharply. They recognized their friend’s voice. Madame Mist only tilted her head.

“Detective Pleasant” she answered. “Have you come to defend your accomplices?”

“They are innocent and you know it”, Skulduggery gritted out, the table creaking in protest as he gripped it tighter.

“So you say. But it is all awfully convenient, isn’t it? The majority of your friends leaving just before the bomb hits? All of you miraculously survive?”

“Could you be a little quieter over there? I’m trying to sleep”, suddenly came a muffled voice from the sofa. “Hey, do I smell Thai food?”

“Saracen”, Skulduggery stated, consciously letting go of the table he had been gripping before. His voice was tight. “You are awake. Now is not a good time.”

“But food?” Dexter wordlessly handed over the rest of his noodles. Saracen took them gratefully, flopped back down on the couch and immediately started shovelling them into his mouth. He gestured at them with his chopsticks. “Go on!” Skulduggery sighed.

“At least finish chewing first”, he said dryly and turned back to the monitor. “Where were we?”

“The miraculous disappearance of that bomb.”

“Oh, right. So, who did that then in your little story? You, to save the people or us because we were there and could have died”, at the last part his voice almost rose to a shout and he hit the table with his fist. Dexter flinched at the loud sound and looked at his friend worriedly. Valkyrie moved a bit closer but he waved her away. So she kept her distance. Far enough to not crowd him but close enough to ground him with her presence.

“I do not know how that bomb was stopped”, Mist said slowly and if her mouth was visible it would surely have been curled in distaste. “It was not our work but we don’t see how it could have been yours either.”

“I know”, Saracen chimed in from the couch, spewing noodle bits everywhere. The others turned to look at him. He just shrugged. “What? It’s my job to know things. So why not this?”

“I hope this doesn’t get me killed”, Ravel said from the background of the transmission, his gaze fixed firmly on the Cleaver’s blade. “But I know too.”

“You do? How?”, Dexter demanded. Saracen answered in his stead.

“You know there are emergency plans for most things. This is just another one you don’t know.”

“There is an emergency plan for getting hit by a bomb?” 

“Obviously!” With that Saracen tucked back into his noodles, ending the conversation. Dexter turned to the monitor again but this time there was a slight smile gracing his lips. Some of the tension in his shoulders had lifted.

“That is quite an unusual thing to plan for.” And just like that the mood was ruined again. Mist really had quite the talent for that. “Maybe because you planned to fire a bomb at yourself and then blame it on me?”

Saracen shook his head. “You don’t get it. It is an emergency plan. Not exactly fool-proof and definitely not pleasant.”

“Not pleasant?”, Dexter asked, trying and failing to sound upbeat.

“Well, I certainly have a giant headache now”, Saracen just said and focussed on the food again. Dexter came over, draped himself onto the couch and over Saracen’s lab grinning up at him.

“C’moooon! Don’t leave me hanging here! Tell us! What is that mysterious emergency plan?”

Saracen sighed and put his food aside since Dexter was now effectively blocking both his arms.

“I can’t tell you. It’s a secret.”

“Please?”

“No.”

“Pretty please?”

“I said no.”

“Pleeeeeeeaaaaaasseee?”

“No!”

Skulduggery who had been standing entirely still for the past few minutes snapped around suddenly, making Gracious squeak in surprise and tumble of his chair. He looked Saracen dead in the eye who now seemed much more serious again.

“Does it have to do something with your power?”, he demanded.

“Would you believe me if I said no?”

“No.”

“Well, in that case yes.”

Skulduggery nodded jerkily and turned away again. The tension dissipated and Valkyrie could breathe again. Then Dexter looked back at Saracen and immediately continued his teasing.

“How does knowing things help you stop a bomb?”

“Maybe I just know how to stop a bomb.”

“How the hell is that supposed to work?”

Saracen just tapped his nose, Dexter huffed out an indignant noise and shoved him. Saracen let himself fall back onto the couch and started rubbing his temples.

“My head hurts”, he whined.

“Stop whining. Considering what stupid shit you have been doing, you should be glad that’s all what’s happened”, came Ravel’s voice through the speakers.

“I wasn’t whining.”

“Yes, you were!”, said all the Dead Men in unison. Even Shudder and Ghastly joined in. They looked at each other. Laughed. Then Madame Mist made a sharp movement and the Cleavers held their blades even closer to their friend’s throats. Ghastly swallowed heavily and even that tiny movement made his skin brush the edge and a slow tickle of blood flowed down his throat. No one was laughing anymore. Like I said: Madame Mist, professional mood-killer.

“I do not have to deal with this”, she said, her voice icy. She seemed displeased with how this conversation had turned out. No idea why. “I know what you did and I can prove it.”

“Can you though?”, Gracious interjected. Mist ignored him.

“A trial will be held for the other Elders and you. If you don’t come to Roarhaven, we will decide your fate in your absence. Consider this your invitation. The trial will be tomorrow at noon.”

With that she swept her coat around her dramatically and left the frame. Moments later, the transmission ended.

“Damn”, Skulduggery muttered. “She didn’t even give me time to insult her ears.” Then he leant forwards and cut their transmission too. The screen went black again and he turned back to the others.

“What are we gonna do now?”, Valkyrie asked. “How will we rescue Ghastly, Ravel and Shudder?”

At first Skulduggery didn’t answer. He just took off his hat, adjusted the brim and then put it back on slowly. Valkyrie rolled her eyes. Drama queen. Skulduggery gave her the skeleton version of a glare.

“We’ve been invited”, he said pointedly. “It would be rude not to show up.”

Dexter choked. “You really just want to walk into Roarhaven? That’s a stupid plan! It’s barely even a plan!”

Skulduggery just sighed. Saracen wiggled his hands in the air.

“Hurray, Roarhaven!”, he said unenthusiastically.

“Oh, you’re not coming. You can barely stand. You’re staying here.”

“Like hell I am!”


	6. This is a rescue you know

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Dead Men go to Roarhaven. Saracen stays behind.  
> He´ll be back soon.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> No Saracen this time. Sorry.
> 
> Darquesse has a few lines in this. They were supposed to be in italics but that didn´t work so now they look like ^this^
> 
> Just so you know.

Saracen did indeed stay home but only with a lot of complaining on his part. Only when he tried to walk to the kitchen and almost fainted again, he had to admit that he was not going to be of any help. Not that that stopped him from complaining. 

Valkyrie wondered what Saracen had done with that bomb. How he had stopped it using his magic. Going by the sudden plant growth he could have stopped the bomb in the air using some kind of fancy plant-power but that made no sense. The bomb had been much too close already and it didn’t explain all the other times Saracen had simply known things. But then how did the plants feature into this. After a few minutes of thinking, Valkyrie had a giant headache and no clues, so she gave up. Dexter pestered them during the whole drive, his theories becoming more and more wild as time passed. He clearly had no clue either. Tanith, Gracious and Donegan joined in to but they didn’t know Saracen well enough to really contribute something. They just did it for fun. None of them even had a valid theory. Or did they?

She wasn’t sure about Skulduggery. He was driving silently, not moving beyond what was absolutely necessary and refused to take part in the conversation. He either already knew the answer to the question they were discussing or had no clue either and didn’t want to show it. He wouldn’t put either one past him. His ego was truly gigantic but he had the skills to back it up. So she let it slide.

They arrived at Roarhaven and drove up to the shield around the city. Stopped. Skulduggery got out of the car. Knocked against the barrier with his fist. Sparks flew and his suit started smoking. Skulduggery didn’t care. That’s how you could tell that underneath all the humour he really did take this seriously. He was just as worried about his friends as they were.

“Hello?”, he yelled at the unyielding wall of energy. “We’ve come for our trial, could you let us in?”

Moments later a nervous, slightly overweighted man came out of a nearby building. He approached the barrier but stopped several feet away, eying them. He seemed unsure about what to do.

“Ah, hello, good man”, Skulduggery started in a conversational tone. “I assume you’re here to defend the barrier?”

He tilted his head and the man nodded.

“Good, good. You’re doing a very good job of that, Eric”, praised Skulduggery. “May I call you Eric?”

Eric frowned. “My name is Xavier.”

Silence.

“That”, Skulduggery said slowly. “Is a ridiculous name. Eric is much better. Either way, would you be so kind to let us in?”

“I don’t think I’m supposed to do that.”

“Didn’t you watch the broadcast? We’ve been invited. Our trial is today. If you refuse to let us in for our own trial, your superiors will be very upset indeed.”

“They didn’t tell me about you. I’m sorry, I can’t.”

Skulduggery shook his head mock disappointedly and sighed. “Don’t you see?”, he asked seriously. “Your superiors want you to show initiative. Do something on your own. To not always come running to them for answers. This is your chance to show them you’re ready for more.”

Eric scratched his head. “I guess that makes sense?”

“Excellent!”, Skulduggery exclaimed cheerfully. “Do let us in then!”

Eric frowned again as if he knew something wasn’t completely right here but obediently walked over to a nearby wall and touched a sigil, making a part of the barrier slide back. They all walked through and on the other side, Skulduggery clapped a hand on Erics shoulder.

“Thank you, Eric, you’ve been of great help to us.”

Then he used the grip on his shoulder to throw Eric over to Dexter who punched him in the solar plexus which sent him stumbling over to Valkyrie who knocked him out with a right hook. The others clapped politely. Valkyrie grinned. This was fun.

They put on inconspicuous clothes and snuck around Roarhaven towards the sanctuary. They kept their head down, hoods obscuring their faces. Normally this would not have been a problem in Roarhaven. The people there seemed to just naturally walk like that. Except today they didn’t. Something had changed. They walked open and proudly. Some of them actually smiled and greeted each other. What was going on? More than once they had to duck into an alley to escape a complete stranger who wanted to talk to them. They considered just pulling someone off into an alleyway and asking but deemed it too dangerous. Instead they just followed the steady stream of people all heading towards the sanctuary. 

When they arrived, a huge crowd had already formed around a high podium in front of the sanctuary. People were talking excitedly with each other and waited impatiently for something to happen. So they waited too. Despite their unusual appearance nobody looked at them twice. These people felt safe. Were confident. Confident in what? At 12 o’ clock sharp, the sanctuary door opened. Noon. The trial would begin.

Madame Mist walked out of the sanctuary and the crowd quieted. The people were almost buzzing with excitement. Valkyrie couldn’t understand how Mist hadn’t killed their mood yet. She had certainly killed hers. Again. She really was a professional.

“Good evening, people of this world”, she started her speech. Valkyrie frowned. How could this evening be good? Mist was there. 

“Yes, not only sorcerers. We’ve been working together with a mortal journalist who is recording this speech right now.” She gestured to the side where two very nervous men who were talking to each other. They were mortal? What did Mist want with mortals? She hated them! Also this was against the sanctuary laws. Sorcerers were supposed to stay hidden.

“We’ve reached out to them because a threat has been identified that we might not be able to neutralise without revealing our existence. The warlocks have been stirring and seem to be targeting mortals. A full offensive on their behalf will be hard to deal with together and impossible alone. So I’ve reached out to the sanctuaries of the Supreme Council and have decided a peace treaty. General Mantis should be getting the information right now. They are no longer our enemies but our allies and as such we welcome them into our city which shall rise too to be more than just a little town. Roarhaven shall become the centre of a new world, where sorcerers and mortals live together in peace. Thousands of workers have been working for years to make this possible. We’ve operated hidden, in another dimension but now I proudly present to you: Roarhaven City!”

Valkyrie gasped as she saw the changes made to the town. Buildings overlayered and flowed together. Forming something bigger and better. The walls looked impenetrable. This was no city. This was a fortress. This was like Dublin behind the wall. This was what it would be under Mist’s reign. And with the buildings came the people. All of them clapping and cheering. To Mist. This was an army. They could not win this. And yet they would have to.

As the applaus abated, Mist stepped forward again.

“And now for the trial of the traitors, those who are here and those to cowardly to show up...”

“Actually”, Skulduggery interrupted, using his air magic to rise over the crowd and fly towards the podium. “All of us are here. Well, except Saracen. He’s not feeling well which is really quite understandable considering he had to stop that bomb you threw at us.”

The mortal reporters gasped. They clearly had not known who they were dealing with. Valkyroe pitied them. They were in over their head, lost in a strange, confusing and yet so alluring world. She knew that feeling all too well.

“So you claim”, Missy just said. “Yet you refuse to say just how he should have accomplished that.”

Skulduggery shrugged. “We’ve already established that it has something to do with his magic. While I don’t know what it is, I trust Saracen enough to believe him. I also have a theory on what his power might be and it would explain a lot.”

“And what would that theory be?”

“Not for me to say. I might be right after all. I usually am.”

“You’re oh so arrogant, Detective Pleasant. But I don’t have time for this. Surrender now, you will receive a trial and then we can go back to working on protecting the mortals as is our duty.”

“Protecting the mortals?!”, Dexter yelled from a different place in the crowd, working his way towards the podium. “You put them in danger in the first place. We know you were involved with the staged attacks of Department X. So was the Torment. We don’t know who your third accomplice was but I’m sure we’ll find out.”

“Bring them here!”, Mist just hissed and Cleavers jumped from the surrounding buildings into the crowd. The people immediately moved to make room but showed no sign of panicking. The Cleavers looked around. They would see her. She had no way to run without drawing attention to herself.

^Let me out. I can help.^

No, you can’t. You’re evil.

^Do you really believe that, darling? I’m you! Are you evil?^

Of course not.

^See? So I can’t be either. I just wanna help. If you simply let me...^

The cuffs clicked in place around her left wrist and the voice disappeared. She had been so focused on Darquesse’s voice that she had not noticed the Cleaver sneaking up behind her. Dammit. She tried to turn around and shake him of but he simply gripped her arms harder and clicked the second cuff into place. Then started to drag her towards the podium. She tried to fight his grip but it was useless. 

From the corner of her eyes she could see the same happening to her friends. Donegan and Gracious stood back to back and tried to fight of several Cleavers at once but they couldn’t for long. One of them managed to hit Donegan, their rhythm was disturbed and soon both of them were handcuffed too. Blood oozed from Donegan’s nose sluggishly, Dexter’s jaw was already showing an impressive bruise and Tanith was completely unconscious. Only Skulduggery was still fighting. He took on all the Cleavers guarding their friends at once and relatively easily held his own. The flying was certainly cheating. Then Mist made another gesture and the Cleaver holding her took out his scythe, holding the blade to her throat. She froze, hardly daring to breathe. The same happened to her friends. Skulduggery stood hovering in mid-air, fireballs in both hands and surveyed the scene. He could probably free one of them but not all at once. The others would die. And how could he choose who to save? They were all his friends. He extinguished the flames and floated down to the platform, offering one of the Cleavers his wrists. 

The cuffs clicked closed and they surrendered.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sooo, there was supposed to be an epic fight scene but I can´t write fight scenes so I did this.  
> I hope you´re okay with it.


	7. Who even let you in?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The trial happens but nobody is actually paying attention. Kenny talks to Ravel.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Kenny was one of the subplots from LSotDM so I tried to include him. It has actually been a while since I read it so I will propably forget some.  
> Also still no Saracen. Next chapter, I promise.

The moment all of them were cuffed and in custody, most of the nervousness in the crowd dissipated. People started laughing again, as if they had won. Roarhaven´s people didn´t laugh. They never had and now they suddenly did and they weren´t invited. It was unfair. The worst thing about it though was that they were right. They really did have nothing to fear from them. This had been their one last desperate offensive and they had lost. Only Saracen was left now and even if he had apparently just stopped a bomb, she couldn´t really picture him rushing to their rescue. The best thing he could do now was hide and try to rescue them later.

If they were still alive to be rescued then.

With a firm shake of her head, Valkyrie banished that thought from her mind. She couldn´t think like that now. They would get out. They always did. Right?

They were all on the podium now. To stand trial. As if they were the ones who needed to be punished and not the very person who would decide their fate. Madame Mist seemed to be much calmer now that that particular problem had been dealt with. She could no longer pull the “cowards who didn´t show up”-thing but apart from that they had really just made her life much easier. 

Six of the seven Dead Men. Presented to her on a silver platter.

Valkyrie could just picture that smug smile she had to be wearing under that veil. She really wanted to punch it off her face but she wanted to punch a lot of people so that wasn´t particularly new. Still, gloating was waayy more fun when it was your own.

“So the traitors have really decided to show up”, Mist began in her annoyingly calm voice. “But to attack this peaceful gathering instead of admitting to their crimes. How did you even get into the city?”

Skulduggery just shrugged which wasn´t exactly easy with his hands bound behind his back as tightly as they were. They really seemed to be scared of him.

“Eric let us in?”

That seemed to confuse Mist. It was a way better look on her than that awful smugness so Valkyrie would take it.

“Who´s Eric?”

“The man guarding the barrier.”

“But nobody was guarding the…oh, I see. Him.”

Poor Eric. Mist didn´t even remember him. She had probably just stationed him there to be rid of him. He hadn´t exactly seemed competent. Even Valkyrie herself could only vaguely remember his face. But he had seemed nice. If Roarhaven wasn´t evil, Valkyrie could picture herself eating donuts with him. Or maybe not. She was a busy girl.

For now, Missy focussed back onto their so-called trial. It was a farce and everyone here knew it but they stuck to the procedure nonetheless. Since Dexter and Gracious were already busy pointing out all the lies and holes in her argumentation, Valkyrie let her mind wander of and instead watched the mortal journalists go about their business. They were sweaty and seemed really hectic. This had the potential to be the story of their lifetime after all. Valkyrie wondered what Mist had told them. Definitely not the truth. They did not seem to be the kind of people who knowingly worked for the villain. So she had probably lied. They probably thought the Dead Men were the bad guys. But they were talking to Ravel know. He would tell them the truth.

\--------------------

Kenny licked his lips nervously. These men were dangerous. Mist had called them traitors and she would know. She had asked them to do this after all, together with the beautiful woman. He trusted the beautiful woman. It just felt right. He might be in love with her. So what they had said about these men must be true too. 

But they didn’t seem dangerous. Sure, all of them were wearing heavy leather armour, looked quite strong und muscular and the one with the scars, the one who looked like a funeral home director and of course the living skeleton all seemed quite scary but they somehow weren’t. There wasn’t a doubt in Kenny’s mind that these men (and the girl, he supposed) could kill him but he also had the feeling that they wouldn’t. They were terrorists. The beautiful lady had said that much. Kenny had always prided himself with being able to judge a person quite well but now that seemed to fail him. He trusted these terrorists more than he trusted the, quite honestly pretty creepy, woman who had hired him.

Now he edged closer to the man with the bright amber eyes. They really were pretty eyes. Almost golden in the right light but not completely. His eyes were too soft, too warm to be described by a cold, hard metal. Amber fit them better or maybe honey? Kenny wasn’t sure.

The man was perhaps the least scary of the group called the Dead Men but Kenny knew not to underestimate him. According to Mist, they had been soldiers and good ones at that. He did not know exactly how they had earned their name but he knew that the other people respected them. Feared them even. So he kept his distance even though his gut told him that he could trust these people. The beautiful lady was here somewhere and his logical thinking would surely impress her.

“Err…hello?”, Kenny started and then immediately turned bright red. Worst conversation starter ever.

The man didn´t seem to mind though. He turned to him and gave him a pleasant smile. He wasn´t surprised to see Kenny. He had been aware of his presence the whole time and still left it to Kenny to start the conversation. He had probably tried to be polite but knowing that he had been watching Kenny since he had entered the stage was kind of creepy. He swallowed nervously.

“So, Madame Mist said you used to be Grand Mage?”

The man laughed. He had a nice laugh. A laugh Kenny wanted to trust. Only the words of the beautiful woman stopped him from doing so.

“Oh, I still am Grand Mage as far as I know. Mist was one of my Elders, Ghastly” -he nodded his chin at the muscular, extensively scarred man- “was the other. Honestly, we were in the majority already. Why would we have to get rid of her through some convoluted plot?”

That actually kind of made sense? More sense than what Mist had said. But these people were terrorists. He was only trying to get into Kenny´s head. He did not rise to his bait and instead changed the topic.

“So, your friend over there is a politician? He looks more like a bodyguard or something.”

The man laughed. “Actually, Ghastly used to be a tailor. Don´t let his rough exterior fool you. On the inside he is as soft as butter.”

Kenny found that hard to believe but he was only here to gather information.

“Who are the other people then? Are all of them Dead Men?”

“No, Tanith, Gracious and Donegan aren´t. Valkyrie joined only recently and the other six of us are still from the original unit.”

“Didn´t you use to be seven?”

“We were during the war but Hopeless died and Larrikin did too. They were good people. I still miss them.”

Despite his curt answer, the man´s -Mist had called him Ravel? – voice was thick with emotion. He had really cared about those people. Kenny knew how old sorcerers could get, so the war had probably been a long time ago but Ravel had never forgotten them. It was hard to connect this kind man with the terrorist Mist had claimed him to be.

Kenny shook his head. Don´t fall for his tricks.

“Could you tell me more about Valkyrie?”

She was their main focus after all. Someone for the audience to identify with. Ravel only smiled.

“Why don´t you ask her yourself? But you better hurry. I think they have made a decision.”

\--------------------

Mist´s pathetic excuse for a jury had seemingly come to an agreement. Much too fast for such a complex case with so many contradicting witness statements but everybody knew this wasn´t a fair trial anyway. They were sticking to the procedure just enough to satisfy anyone who might ask after the Dead Men´s fate.

“The jury has found the group known as the Dead Men guilty of treason”, Mist said and damn that smug voice, Valkyrie really wanted to beat her face in. “Their punishment shall be…”

Suddenly there was a commotion at the back of the crowd. A man was pushing through to the front. Mist seemed to recognise him and stopped her speech waiting for what he had to say. His face was red all over and he was gasping for breath by the time he had reached the stage. His uniform was the same as Eric´s so he had probably been guarding the barrier too. And run all the way here judging by his state. The only question was why.

“I am terribly sorry to intrude, ma´am”, he choked out between heaving breaths. “But it´s the warlocks.”

“Are they attacking the mortals already?”

“No, ma´am. They aren´t attacking the mortals at all.”

Confused whispers went through the crowd. What did that mean?

“They are attacking the barrier around the city.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> That is all I had already prepared so the updates will be a bit slower now. I already started chapter 8 so I might be able to finish it this weekend.
> 
> How did you like it so far? Any major plotholes or inconsistencies that have already shown up?
> 
> Also does anyone have a better idea for a title? The word document was simply called Saracen fanfiction so I just kinda improvised this one when I posted it.


	8. The warlocks attack

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The warlocks are there and then Saracen is there too. Yeyyy

Mist took them with her to the top of the mighty city wall. Normally it would have been stupid to take your enemies to such a strategically important place but she seemed reluctant to let them out of her sight. From the top of the wall they could oversee the whole attack. At first, Roarhaven´s victory seemed sure but then came the Wretchlings and the barrier fell. Suddenly their victory seemed much further away. Even General Mantis who had joined them sometime after Mist´s speech wasn´t sure they would win. Considering his reputation that really was quite worrying. 

“We can help”, the Dead Men insisted several times during the attack but Mist´s answer was always the same.

“I´m not going to risk you escaping again”, she would spit back as if they were more dangerous than the army of warlocks in front of their doors. They probably were to her. The warlocks wanted to take revenge on the sorcerers but the Dead Men wanted to take revenge on her specifically. And they would be more than able to do so.

So the attack continued. Energy beams ripped great holes into their defences and many people had already died. The Wretchlings´ numbers seemed endless. Mist still refused to let them help. But then something was different. The Wretchlings suddenly just froze and then, as if called back by a voice only they could hear, they abandoned their fights, jumped of the city walls and the survivors ran back to their warlock masters. The portal they had arrived through opened again and within just a few minutes, they were gone.

Only the warlocks themselves remained now but something was different about them too. Were before they had stood in strict, battle-ready lines, they now formed a loose circle around a person Valkyrie was sure had not been there before. Where all the warlocks dressed in simple, white linen clothing, his clothes were dark. He was smaller than most of the warlocks too but what made him stand out the most was the way the others acted towards him. They kept their distance and treated him almost respectfully. Like a leader.

Who was this person? He was not Charivari, the head warlock. They had quickly identified him as the most massive one of the group but even he kept a respectful distance from the mysterious stranger. Who could outrank someone like Charivari? It seemed like they were about to find out.

The stranger and the warlocks seemed to finish their conversation. Charivari gave something that looked suspiciously like a bow and the stranger only answered with a curt nod. Then the warlocks too entered to portal and it closed behind them. Now only the stranger was left and he was walking towards the city.

The atmosphere on the wall was tense. The stranger made them nervous. They did not know his intentions, only that he was powerful enough to command even Charivari. There was a very real possibility that he had sent the warlocks away to take care of the city himself. Who knew how powerful this person was if he was going up against a city of sorcerers all by himself? There was, of course, also a chance that he had come to bargain but nobody dared to hope for that possibility.

Valkyrie glanced at Skulduggery. His head was tilted in a way that implied he was thinking but it wasn´t a confused way. He had at least an idea of who this person was. She tried to catch his empty eye sockets and raised a questioning eyebrow.

“Look at the armour”, he only whispered back.

So she did but she couldn´t see anything strange about it. It was made of thick, black leather and there was an additional leather strip wrapped around one of his arms that could be used as a shield. It actually looked kind of similar to what the rest of the Dead Men were wearing and…holy shit!

Going by the sharp intakes of breath and the occasional breathless laugh, the others had now recognised him too. When he came even closer and his face became clearer, there really was no doubt about it. 

The stranger was Saracen.

\--------------------

When Saracen woke up from his nap, several hours after the others had left for Roarhaven, he was feeling considerably better. His headache wad nearly gone. He was also very hungry. Hadn´t he just eaten something? He felt like he hadn´t eaten in days. He definitely wasn´t used to overusing his magic anymore. In fact, he wasn´t used to using his magic at all. He hadn´t been able to for the last few centuries but he had been again a few hours ago.

He stretched out his hand towards the half empty Thai food box on the coffee table. He could see the energy in the air that connected him to it. That connected him to everything. Slowly and carefully, like a child using his magic for the first time, he gave that particular string of power a tug. It was similar but not quite identical to how Elementals moved things with the air. He didn´t need the air. He used something much deeper and more fundamental. It worked just the same though. 

The box flew into his waiting hands immediately. A wide grin split his face. He had still got it. Over the next few minutes, he used magic more than was perhaps necessary. He just couldn´t get enough of the feeling of simply being able to do things. It was exhilarating.

But then something that he had never even lost, alerted him to an unpleasant development. He had always been able to feel things. He might not have been able to conduct it and use it but even when his powers had been blocked, he had still been able to see the energy around him. If he knew it well, he could sense energy signals from several miles away. And there was nobody he knew better than his friends. 

He had always been aware of their energy, like a buzz at the back of his head. Now it was gone. Not the same, gaping hole type of gone he had felt when Hopeless and Larrikin had died. He would have felt their deaths from the other side of the earth. He had learned to trust these feelings when the same hollow emptiness had not set in after Ravel´s supposed death during the war. He had known something was wrong. He could have saved him. But this was different, they were not quite gone but only subdued. Unfortunately, he knew this feeling too.

It was the feeling of someone´s magic being blocked. His friends had gotten captured. That tended to happen a lot. He sighed. Looked like he had to go on a rescue mission.

\--------------------

Valkyrie actually laughed out loud when she recognised the person who had scared off the warlocks. She hadn´t known him for long, but somehow this was so incredibly like him. Just casually turning up to save everyone. Only on time when lifes were at stake.

Saracen had nearly reached the gate now. He looked up towards them and yelled: “Can I come in?”

Now not only the Dead Men laughed. Some of the Roarhaven mages did too. Maybe not all of them were completely humourless. Then Mist looked at them sharply and the laughter quieted. She really was a mood killer in almost every situation. But even she seemed unsure about how to proceed now. This day really had gotten really wild really fast.

“We will not let you enter, Dead Man!”, she finally yelled back. That sounded like a very posh way to say “no” but Mist was a very posh person, so it didn´t actually seem out of place. Valkyrie still thought it was annoying.

“Why not?”, came the reply from before the wall. Yelling like that had to hurt, didn´t it? Maybe Saracen´s power somehow granted him super-yelling abilities. At this point, that wouldn´t even surprise her.

“You are an enemy of the people!” Valkyrie really hoped all that yelling hurt Mist´s throat so much that she would have to drink herbal tea for months. And not the good one. The disgusting one where you can´t get the taste out of your mouth for hours.

“What?”, Saracen shouted back up. She wasn´t sure if he actually hadn´t understood or if he was just messing with Mist. It was funny all the same.

“You are an enemy of the people!” Keep going, Mist. Disgusting herbal tea is coming for you.

“What? Talk louder! I am kind of far away down here! This would be easier if you just let me in.”

“I won´t! Because YOU ARE AN ENEMY OF THE PEOPLE!” She would definitely need at least one cup of herbal tea at this point. She had to hope that Roarhaven had run out of the good ones.

“You know, I´m just gonna come up there now!”

Mist took a deep breath to yell back a reply when there was a loud whoosh and suddenly Saracen was right in front of them. Misty shrieked (it was hilarious) and fell over. All around Saracen, thick vines were covering the city wall that had apparently grown in the space of less than a second. And he was standing on them. Even if he had been down there just a moment ago.

Everybody gaped at him. Ravel found his voice first.

“Show-off”, he muttered but there was no real heat in it. There was no teasing either. He was just as impressed as they were. But he at least knew, how Saracen did this. Valkyrie was kinda jealous. Saracen´s power had always been an interesting mystery but now he was suddenly doing these amazing things that had no apparent connection to knowing things. She really wanted to be Ravel right now. Then she could annoy everyone by not saying anything too.

“Guess you just knew how to do that too?”, she asked. Saracen laughed and the weird silence broke.

Dexter grinned wide and immediately resumed his teasing.

“So that is your mysterious power? You control plants? Wow, I never expected that. Am I gonna have to watch out now when I eat vegetables? Can you still control them when they´re inside of me?”

Saracen frowned. “I don´t control plants. And you don’t eat vegetables anyway.”

Dexter gasped in mock offense. “How dare you say that?”

Meanwhile Mist had gotten up again and tried desperately to take back control of the situation. Nobody was listening to her. Not even the Cleavers even though they were literally programmed to. Except they weren´t. They were only supposed to obey Ravel. They hadn´t before but now it seemed like they did again and she was positively fuming about it. Valkyrie smiled to herself and continued to ignore her. She enjoyed Mist´s growing desperation.

“How did you even do this?”, she screeched now. Always trying to kill the mood. Unfortunately it worked most of the time. Also Mist would definitely need herbal tea for her throat. How could someone even yell so shrilly? “Why would the warlocks just go? You have clearly been working with them!”

“She does have a point there”, Ghastly whispered to Dexter who quickly silenced him with a jab into his ribs. Even if what Saracen was doing lately was pretty weird, they knew their friend wasn’t evil. Still the rest of the world evidently did not and joking about it would only lead to more trouble.

Saracen on the other hand seemed completely unbothered by her accusations. Instead he was grinning madly. It made him look pretty crazy but he had just grown a giant plant tower so that was probably justified.

“Have you ever tried just talking to people? You would be surprised how far that gets you sometimes”, he just said and grinned again. He was being intentionally vague. It was annoying.

“So, what you´re saying is you just walked up to the warlocks and asked them to pretty please stop attacking the city?”

“Yes. Well, I also said that we´d clear up who attacked their people but we were gonna do that anyway so nothing new there.”

“That does not sound like something a warlock would agree to. Why didn´t they just kill you?”, Anton interrupted. It was the first time he said anything. He generally only said something when it was important. And as usual, he had a point.

Saracen just shrugged. “My natural charm?”

Dexter started laughing and Saracen glared. “I am charming”, he muttered.

“Warlocks can´t be reasoned with.” Mantis had apparently at some point come back onto the wall. When had that happened? In fact, now that she was looking around, there were quite a few new people. They had attracted quite the crowd. Not that the Dead Men were bothered by that. They were used to having an audience.

Saracen only tilted his head questioningly, so Mantis continued:

“When a warlock is killed, they have to take revenge. It´s what they do. There is no way you just convinced them to stop.”

“Well, clearly I did.”

“Yes, you did. I don´t know how you did it. The only way I see is if Charivari knew that he was going to lose. He obviously had no problem attacking the city and the only thing that changed was you. I´m sorry, Madame Mist, but we will not help Ireland attack someone who the warlocks are scared of.”

With these words Mantis handed the Dead Men the keys to the handcuffs, turned around and left the wall. His soldiers followed. Mist screamed at him to come back but he didn´t react. Soon they were gone and Mist stood there, alone. And the whispers started.

“Come on”, Saracen said and started leaving too. “We should talk.”

The other Dead Men turned to follow him and only Valkyrie hesitated.

“Should we just leave Mist out here? Who knows what she´ll do!”, Valkyrie whispered to Skulduggery but he shook his head.

“Her plan has failed”, he whispered back. “People will try to distance themselves from her. She won´t have power much longer."

With one last look to Mist who was still desperately trying to regain control of the situation, they left the wall and walked back into the Sanctuary. It was confusing how modern everything was. Also a bit too stylish. Trying to hard. She would get used to it.

She walked a bit faster and caught up to Saracen who was leading the way.

“How did you stop the warlocks?”, she asked.

Instead of the usual tap to the nose and a secretive smile, Saracen suddenly turned serious.

“You´re about to find out”, he said darkly and threw open the door to an empty meeting room.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, I have no idea what this chapter is but that is always the case when I write stuff, so nothing new there.  
> Saracen is back, so that is good but soon I have to write people talk about feelings and I´m not even good at that in real life. First there´s a Saracen chapter coming up though. Those are always nice to write.
> 
> I just hope you like it.
> 
> Also no idea where the herbal tea thing came from. I actually really like herbal tea.


	9. The Old Ones

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> What happened with the warlocks but from Saracen´s POV.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don´t really like how this chapter turned out but I ate cake today, so the anxiety-and-cake-ratio was good enough that I decided to post this anyway.

The first thing Saracen did was steal a car. It wasn´t his proudest moment but Skulduggery and the others had taken the only car they had and he really needed to get to Roarhaven. So he stole a car. He would bring it back later. Probably. Maybe. 

Next he drove to Roarhaven. It wasn´t hard. He had only driven there once before and not been in Ireland for a long time before that, so he got lost almost immediately. He was there within 20 minutes even if he couldn´t believe it at first. Roarhaven looked different. The wall was definitely new. Even if there were already holes in it. That might have something to do with the warlocks attacking the city.

He should probably hurry.

At least, this particular problem might be solvable. Warlocks and people like him had always been close. Their ways of using magic was pretty similar even if neither would ever admit to it. Warlocks also used to energy that held the universe together but they couldn´t use it quite like the sorcerers could. They had always been more powerful, knowing your true name would do that to you. Hopefully, Charivari would listen to him if only to honour their people´s shared past. It was worth a shot. Even if he probably shouldn´t mention that all the others were dead. The warlocks wouldn´t dare disrespect a powerful ally but on his own, Saracen wouldn´t be just that important to them. They wouldn´t take lying well either. Luckily, Saracen was a master of concealing the truth without outright lying. The past few hundred years had made sure of that.

As he drove up to the warlocks, Saracen contemplated how to start the conversation. There were certain etiquettes talking to warlocks, weren´t there? Damn, he should have paid better attention back when the others used to talk about that. He definitely knew though that driving up to them at full speed would not be a good idea, so he parked the car a few hundred meters away. Hopefully it wouldn´t get hurt. Then he would be able to bring it back. Where had he taken it from again?

When he got out of the car, the first thing he noticed was the smell. Wretchlings are made of rotting flesh and they certainly smelt like it. Saracen hated Wretchlings. Hollow Men would beat you to death but Wretchlings would smell you to death. And beat you to death too. They could do both. The only perk was that there was no way you’d walk into an ambush of Wretchlings. Fortunately, it didn’t look like he’d have to deal with them. They were all focussed on the city and so were the warlocks. 

The sounds of the battle were so loud that nobody noticed him coming up. He was almost right behind them when Saracen decided to make himself known. He cleared his throat and several of the warlocks in the back whirled around. Alright. Be charming. Be diplomatic.

“Hey”, he said and did an awkward wave with his hand. Immediately he could have punched himself. What kind of conversation starter was that?! One of the warlocks decided to take over the job for him and punched Saracen. Since he was kind of occupied with internally lamenting his awful people skills, he didn’t dodge. Soon he and one of the warlocks were fighting. The others had turned back to the city which they assessed to be the bigger threat. What a lovely way to start a diplomatic mission.

There was some correct way to greet a warlock, he knew that. But what was it again? He hadn’t really been paying attention then. It had been a beautiful day outside and the lesson had been sooo boring. He had never expected to need it, had expected to simply be able to ask the others if he should. But now they were all gone and he was on his own and had no idea. I mean, what could he say?

“Hey, do you remember that weird cult you were allies with? Called themselves the Old Ones? Because they were really into the Ancients but not ancient, so they insisted on being called old? Had their base in Arabjen? Really weird fashion taste? Well, I’m one of them, so please don’t kill me or my friends? Because we’re allies and stuff?”

To be honest, Saracen was so desperate that he nearly said that or something equally stupid. Luckily, he didn’t have to. They figured it out themselves. Which honestly wasn’t very hard because not many people survive being hit by one of their energy beams. At least not without being severely injured. But Old Ones? Being hit by an energy beam feels amazing. All that energy just delivered straight into your body. So much that you’re buzzing with it but not enough that it overloads you and you need to let it out. After all, it was contained in the warlock before too. Getting hit by one of those beams is like sleeping in and waking up impossibly rested, it’s like eating a full meal for the first time in your life but better. It fulfills you to a degree that you didn’t think was possible. God, that sounds so weird. It feels great, just remember that. It doesn’t nearly do it justice but in this case, it’s enough.

That was actually one of the reasons why the alliance between warlocks and Old Ones was formed in the first place. It was kind of hard to fight someone who was immune to your primary weapon. They could still eat their souls and attack them with Wretchlings and Wraith but it would have been difficult, so they formed an uneasy truce. The Old Ones had needed someone to run their errands and command around and the warlocks had just wanted safety. So they became allies. It was anything but an equal partnership but it worked.

So, anyway. Remember those energy beams? He got hit by one, it felt amazing and the warlocks realised that maybe this wasn’t just a random sorcerer sneaking up. It certainly got their attention. And it felt amazing. He should do this more often. He might have started laughing manically at some point. It would explain the worried faces. He should do something.

Suddenly, riding this high of energy, it came back to him. Palms flat and touching, fingertips to lips, a shallow bow. The traditional greeting for warlocks. How had he forgotten that? It was actually quite easy. Charivari repeated the gesture but his bow was much deeper. Acknowledging his authority as an Old One. It felt weird. He hadn’t been treated like this in a while. Even before, he hadn’t liked it. It was just not right to put yourself above other people like that. As Dead Men they had always made sure to stay approachable. Grounded. The Old Ones had not and it had cost them their lives. But he could use this, this authority, to help his friends, so he would. He owed them that. And probably an explanation. He was so not looking forward to that.

Anyway, he should focus on the problem on hand which was convincing the warlocks that they should not attack the heavily fortified city in which his friends were probably somewhere held prisoner. Not that the heavily fortified part was a problem for them. It would however make arguing for their innocence harder. Innocent people didn´t have to hide behind giant walls. But Mist wasn´t innocent which was perhaps the biggest problem. How do you convince a warlock to leave alone the people who you both know killed some of their own? Warlocks weren´t exactly the forgiving type.

“Old One, what brings you here?”, Charivari addressed him. So formal. Weird.

“The city you are attacking is holding some of my friends. I am asking you to end your attack.”

That sounded weirdly formal too, so it was hopefully the right tone. Also the truth. The truth was always a good start.

“The sorcerers hiding behind these walls have killed some of our own.”

Well, he had a point there unfortunately. This wasn´t a good starting position but then again, he had had worse.

“I know. I must still ask you to retreat.”

Charivari frowned. “We should just let those crimes go unpunished?”

“No, you should trust us to bring them to justice.”

This was a really delicate situation now. Even when the alliance between the warlock and the Old Ones had still been strong, asking for such a huge intervention in their sovereignty would have been risky. The warlocks had always punished those who threatened them themselves and the Old Ones had never interfered. Now that they had not spoken to their allies in centuries, it was doubtful that they would trust him enough to let it happen. Still, it wasn´t exactly a lie. Even if "us" didn´t mean what they probably thought it did.

Saracen was sweating and he knew it. The warlocks had to buy this bluff. If they knew that he was the only one left, they would have no reason to do as he asked. He could only hope that they would assume that the Old Ones had simply taken a break from outside affairs for a few centuries. That actually wasn´t that far-fetched. They had been a weird bunch. 

“I see”, Charivari finally said and his face betrayed nothing of what he was thinking. “I shall honour the bond between our ancestors. Warlocks and Old Ones have been allied for a long time. Just this once, I shall allow this.”

Saracen had to stop himself from exhaling in relief. That would have been a really obvious tell. Charivari looked anything other than happy with this development and Saracen understood that. Warlocks had gone nearly extinct by now and loosing so many in just a few years had been a huge blow. But there were still innocents in this city and the warlocks weren´t exactly known for their restraint. His friends were in there. He could not fail them.

With this, their conversation was over. After another bow, the warlocks called back the Wretchlings and left through a portal. Charivari observed his people leaving the former battle field and was the last to enter the portal. He looked at Saracen one final time and his eyes were hard. He expected him to take care of this. And he would. Just preferably without killing too many people. 

Then Charivari was gone too and Saracen was alone. He began to walk towards the imposing but damaged walls of the city, the energy of the warlocks blast still buzzing in his veins.

Time to put on a show.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I really like writing from Saracen´s POV but I also find it really hard because you never see it in canon. I hope his characterisation sounds more or less right.
> 
> Also this was actually supposed to be him being awesome but I don´t know how to start conversations without being awkward, so this got kinda awkward too.


	10. Dead Men talking

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sooo, people talk and Dexter says a lot because I like him. And we get a hug. Hugs are nice.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is basically the characters finding out about most of Saracen´s backstory. I changed the name of the city to Arabjen instead of Adare though. I couldn´t find the fic I had taken that name from at first and it doesn´t really refer to the same thing anyway.
> 
> I found the fic now though. It´s "smoke gets in your eyes" by soupmetaphors.

The Dead Men plus Tanith and the monster hunters piled into the meeting room and took their seats. Or what counted as seats. Skulduggery decided to stand, Tanith sat on the ceiling because why not and Dexter sat on Saracen. That was a totally normal place to sit too. Strangely that seemed to calm Saracen who had been nervously wringing his hands almost the entire way here. Or maybe he just couldn´t wring his hands anymore due to Dexter sitting on them.

Valkyrie had the feeling that Dexter was doing this on purpose. Acting overly casual despite the serious air in the room.

“Come ooooon!”, he whined now. “Tell us the magical secret behind intimidating warlocks, making plants grow and also your power while we´re at it.”

That at least made Saracen chuckle and Dexter´s quick, soft smile told her everything she needed to know. Definitely on purpose.

“You do realise that´s all kinda the same “magical secret”?”, asked Saracen.

“I do. Now out with it!” He wriggled around to sit more comfortably -still on Saracen- and looked up at him with an expectant smile. Saracen sighed.

“At least get of my hands. I need to gesture awkwardly.”

Dexter groaned and got up just long enough for Saracen to extract his hands before he flopped back down. Saracen glared but there was no real heat in it. Dexter answered with a seemingly innocent smile.

“If we are going to find out his power, I think we should all guess first”, said Tanith from the ceiling. “And maybe make bets.”

“I already know what it is”, said Ravel.

“I used to think X-ray vision but that doesn´t really explain anything else”, said Gracious.

“I still think its psychic. You were always a bit to insistent that it wasn´t. Maybe something with illusions?”, guessed Tanith.

“Maybe you are actually a Faceless One in human form?”, asked Dexter. Oh, yeah. She knew that theory. He had brought it up on the way to Roarhaven too. Dexter looked up at Saracen trying and failing to appear serious. “Do you want to destroy all of us and be worshipped?”

Then he immediately burst into laughter. Saracen sighed. “If it means I can make you shut up, I wouldn´t mind a bit of worship.”

“Were you raised by a cult?”, asked Skulduggery. That was pretty specific. There seemed to be an actual valid theory there. And he was still the best detective in this room. Everyone turned to Saracen for his answer.

“Umm…yes? I guess they were a cult?”

Dexter gasped dramatically and pretended to faint into Saracen´s arms which was pretty easy considering he was still sitting on him.

“A cult? Wow, that is so cool! Did you wear robes?”

Saracen´s silence was answer enough. Dexter started to laugh uncontrollably and fell of Saracen´s lap onto the floor.

“Robes? Seriously?”, he giggled. “Did you dance around fires chanting mysterious spells too?”

Saracen sighed. “I think it´s better if I don´t answer that question.”

Picturing Saracen in a long robe swaying to a chant and dancing around a fire was simply too much. The tense air dissipated completely and everyone just burst into laughter. Tanith fell of the ceiling because she couldn´t concentrate anymore. Valkyrie had to grip onto the door frame to stay upright while she doubled over from laughter. Even Shudder cracked a smile which was the equivalent of rolling on the floor and shaking from laughter for him.

It took a few minutes for them to calm down. Valkyrie had to wipe tears from her eyes and Dexter immediately reclaimed his seat on Saracen who didn´t seem to mind. The atmosphere in the room was much more relaxed now. They had really needed that.

“Anyway, as I was saying”, Saracen started. “I was raised by a cult. Robes, chants, weird dances and secret handshake. The full program. Very funny, I know. They worshipped the Ancients, so Valkyrie is kinda my god, I guess? Which is weird but then again, I was adopted, so I´m not really that into this religion.”

Saracen paused and took a deep breath.

“I and the other people in this cult all used the same power. It´s basically energy manipulation which means none of you were right except maybe Skulduggery but he´s always right and I hate it.”

Skulduggery tilted his head. “I didn´t know about the energy manipulation”, he admitted.

“Well, anyway. That´s what we did. We did it by learning our true names and taking them as our chosen names which kinda changed the names power? Don´t ask me how that works. So, we would get that energy manipulation that is kinda like true name power but not as powerful and versatile. And it would stop us from going insane, so that´s good. But we were a cult, so actually most of them were probably a bit insane anyway. So, yeah. That´s that.”

“You know your true name?”, asked Ghastly. There was a kind of awe in his voice. Valkyrie understood that. Knowing your true name was rare. He had no idea that she did too. No idea what hers was. What she would do to the world. And she couldn´t do what Saracen had done. She had already taken a name.

“It´s not Saracen is it?”, asked Dexter interrupting that particular thought.

Apparently-not-Saracen shook his head. “I chose this one after leaving the cult.”

“What is it then? Come on, tell me! It´s not like I can control you with it, can I? Chosen names being safe and all that.”

Saracen sighed. He had done that a lot in the past few minutes. “Cayuron”, he said.

Silence.

“That is a stupid name”, Dexter said flatly. 

“I know. It´s not like I chose it. Also true names always sound weird.”

“Darquesse sounds pretty cool though. Evil, but cool.”

The quick glance Saracen -she was so not calling him Cayuron- threw her way before he continued their bickering told her that he knew who Darquesse really was. Probably had for a while. Maybe she shouldn´t be surprised. He was the one who knew things after all. But he wouldn´t tell anyone. He hadn´t so far. Valkyrie trusted him. Still, it felt weird for one more person to know her secret.

“Just one question”, said Ghastly. “I don´t want to accuse you here or anything but why didn´t you use that power before? It would have been really useful in multiple occasions. You could have saved lives.”

Saracen scratched his head. “Umm…yeah. It wasn´t really working for a long time? But getting hit by a bomb really does wonders for that, it turns out.”

"But why wasn´t it working? Did it have something to do with you leaving the cult?"

"Not really. I mean, it did happen at about the same time and for the same reason but...it´s complicated?"

“You´re from Arabjen”, Skulduggery stated and suddenly the atmosphere in the room changed again. Got colder. Some of the others looked shocked, some looked angry, Ravel just looked sad. Valkyrie was confused. She had no idea what Arabjen was. She raised a questioning eyebrow at Skulduggery but he shook his head almost imperceptibly. I´ll tell you later.

Once again, it was Dexter who broke the awkward silence.

“Do you need a hug? I feel like you need a hug.”

“It was almost four centuries ago, Dexter.”

“Not an excuse. You get a hug now. Come here everyone. Group hug!”

Dexter sat up, wrapped his arms around Saracen and squeezed so hard that Saracen´s whole face turned red.

“Help!”, he wheezed. Dexter loosened his grip a little but still refused to let go.

Ravel laughed and went over to join in too. Valkyrie and Ghastly grinned at each other and threw themselves into the cuddle pile. Donegan, Gracious and Tanith hesitated for a while but then they joined in too. Shudder and Skulduggery needed some convincing but it didn´t take long before they came as well. Shudder simply sighed and Skulduggery complained endlessly about how they were wrinkling his suit but she knew they both liked it too. She still had no idea what this was about but they should do it more often.

This was nice.

Just then someone had to knock on the door and destroy the moment.

“Umm…excuse me? I´m supposed to tell you that Mist has left the city. The people will no longer accept her as their Elder.”

“Well, that´s good news!”, Dexter exclaimed and extracted himself from the hug. “She´ll not be a problem for a while now. We can search for her later. Right, Saracen?”

Saracen was staring of somewhere into the distance, a worried frown on his face but when Dexter turned to him, he quickly plastered a smile back on.

“Sure, yeah. Great!”, he answered but his voice was full of forced cheer. Dexter noticed it too. He frowned but ultimately let it slide. It had been a long day. They could deal with this tomorrow.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There are just three chapters left now and I have already finished the last one. I often write the ending first. 
> 
> Hopefully this fic should be completed by the end of next week.


	11. Tying up loose ends-Part 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Basically what it says in the title. A bit of Tanith/Ghastly too.

With Mist gone, they would have to elect a new Elder and also clean up that mess she had left behind. Some parts of the newly build city were already in ruins and the rest did not officially belong to anyone yet. Mist probably would´ve known but she was gone and they also had no interest in endorsing whatever dubious deals she had made. So the whole legal status of all these empty buildings was yet to be decided. There was gonna be sooo much paperwork. Ghastly hated paperwork. Unfortunately Tipstaff seemed to love it and kept dumping new mounts of it on his already dangerously full desk. Couldn´t they just go back to war again? That would´ve been much easier. The war was actually another thing. The peace between the sanctuaries had been negotiated by Mist who hadn´t technically been authorised to do that. Nobody knew what that would mean either. Would they have to renegotiate? What had Mist even agreed on? Where the fuck was the sanctuary´s legal team? They had to have one, right? Why didn´t they take care of this?

Ghastly could only sigh as Tipstaff threw open his door once again, another mountain of legal forms and reports balanced in his arms. Could he even see above those? They too were positioned on his desk and almost sent the reports that were already there spilling to the floor. Tipstaff caught them quickly and -was that guy really smiling? Ghastly groaned and buried his face in his hands. Tipstaff loved paperwork and documentation and ordered procedures. Surely that´s why there was so much of it. The other sanctuaries couldn´t have to deal with this too, could they? Then they would never have found the time to declare war on them.

A loud laugh from the ceiling drew Ghastly out of his misery. Perched on the ceiling next to that damned lamp that flickered every two minutes (or at least used to before the whole transformation thing and now Ghastly actually kind of missed the flickering) sat Tanith. Technically she was still a wanted criminal but since she had helped them stop Mist, they had just kinda agreed not to mention it as long as she didn´t kill anyone else. It definitely hadn´t got anything to do with the fact that they had almost gone on a date together before she got possessed by a remnant. That would´ve been silly.

Still, seeing her sitting there, with him and not with that sociopath Sanguine, always brought a smile to his face. It made the whole torturous paperwork more bearable. She was still possessed by a remnant meaning that she no longer had emotions or a conscience but it sometimes almost seemed like she did. She was trying, he could tell, to become who she had been before. Maybe this was all just a trick and she would just break his heart all over again but if it was a trick, he couldn´t see her endgame. There was no advantage in staying with them. So he had to believe that despite the remnant, the woman he loved was still in there somewhere.

Unfortunately the peace they had found in Ghastly doing paperwork he hated and Tanith watching him do said paperwork, didn´t last long. There was after all a life they had led before this moment. Before Tanith decided to try and be more human again. And that past life now manifested as her quite angry fiancé who rose out of the ground.

“You forgot me!”, he accused her. "You came here to do your stupid hero thing and you left me behind!" Always so whiny. Annoying. Ghastly wanted to punch him. Which had nothing at all to do with the fact that they loved the same person. Ghastly wasn´t jealous! He was over 400 years old! He didn´t get jealous! This was a perfectly normal reaction to a slimey sociopath like Sanguine!

Tanith jumped of the ceiling and landed next to Ghastly. Close to him, not her annoying fiancé. Sanguine noticed it too and frowned. Ghastly smiled back which only made him frown harder. This was great. It was so easy to rile him up.

“Yeah, sorry. We kinda had other things to do. You had went off somewhere to sulk again. Did you honestly expect me to just wait for you?”, asked Tanith.

For a moment, Sanguine looked hurt. Then he just looked angry.

“Wow, so that´s how it is? You just go back to your own friends and abandon me again? Is that how it is? Don´t you see? They don´t even know you! Not the real you! You aren´t who you used to be anymore and you never will! There´s a remnant inside of you and it´s never getting out there again! You aren´t human anymore! Stop pretending! Do you think your “friends” will still love you when they realise that? They love someone who is no longer there and when they see that they WILL abandon you! I won´t! I know what you are and I don´t care! Don´t you see? I´m the only one who will ever truly love you for who you are!”

By the expressions that flitted over Tanith´s face, too quick to identify, you never would have guessed that there was a remnant inside her. If Ghastly hadn´t known better, he would have said that she looked hurt. But that couldn´t be, right? Still, it looked so real. He wanted to help her. He couldn´t help but reach out.

Tanith almost jumped to the ceiling again when he took her hand in his. He just gave her a tentative smile even though everything in him was telling him to fall to his knees and beg her not to leave him again. But that wouldn´t help now. He couldn´t ask this of her.

“Hey, it´s okay. You are your own person. You can leave with him if you want but I just want you to know that you will always have a place here. You are not who you used to be, I know that, but I don´t care either. You are better than this, I know that. I can´t tell you that it won´t be hard. I can´t tell you that we can just miracle the remnant out of you -though at this point I wouldn’t be surprised if Saracen could- but you can be a better person, I know that. You can have a family again. We´re here for you.”

Tanith was looking at him now and everything else just seemed to sort of fade into the background. All that mattered was the here and now. This was his only chance. He had to tell her.

“Please stay. I…I love you.”

Simple words, right? He should have said them a long time ago. Before the remnants. Before everything went to shit. He had always thought that there would still be time. The curse of a long life. Then their time had run out and she had been gone. Now she was here and they could try again. Ghastly would do anything to not lose her again but he couldn´t make this choice for her.

Hours seemed to pass and no one said a word. Tanith was just looking at him, her hand still in his. She had yet to say “yes” but she hadn´t pulled away either. Ghastly dared to hope. He smiled at her and she smiled back.

Unfortunately they were not actually alone in this office. They had completely forgotten about Sanguine. Again. He was unfortunately still there and now he was fuming.

“Seriously!”, he yelled now, completely destroying the moment. “You´re choosing ugly scarface over me?! I can´t believe it! I loved you! We were going to get married and now this?!”

Tanith turned around and any tenderness that might´ve been on her face a minute ago vanished. Her voice was cold as ice when she spoke again.

“Billy-Ray, please. Just leave.”

All the anger just seemed to leave Sanguine at that. His arms dropped and his voice was no longer angry but simply hollow.

“Don´t expect me to be here when they cast you away”, he said and sank into the ground.

He was gone. Ghastly and Tanith were alone once more but any semblance of happiness they had had before was gone. 

Of course, Saracen just had to choose this moment to barge in. And obviously he had to come bringing more paperwork.

“Alright!”, he exclaimed. “I got these forms here that are for the distribution of the new houses or something? I got no idea actually but there´s quite a lot of them. I definitely wouldn´t want to be you right now, Ghastly. Also Tipstaff gave me these -Is this a bad time?”

Saracen looked up from the forms. Tanith was still standing in the middle of the room, her eyes downcast. There were cracks in the floor from where Sanguine had tunnelled in and out. Ghastly was still holding Tanith hand and glaring at Saracen quite pointedly.

“Should I…go?”

Ghastly looked at Tanith who quickly extracted her hand from Ghastly´s to wrap her arms around herself. She looked so miserable. Ghastly wanted to reach out to her, comfort her but she turned away.

“I just need some time to myself right now”, she said and left, pushing past Saracen who was still holding the paperwork. Ghastly made to follow her but Saracen held him back. Right, giving people space. He could do this.

“What the hell is going on in here then?”, asked Saracen and just deposited the paperwork somewhere on the ground. There was no more room on the desk anyway.

“Sanguine came”, Ghastly simply said. Saracen seemed to understand anyway.

“Does that mean she´s staying with us now?”

Ghastly actually had no idea. She certainly wasn´t with Sanguine anymore. That did however not automatically mean that she was with them. This was all very confusing. In the end he just shrugged.

Again Saracen seemed to understand him without many words. That´s one of the perks of having friends you´ve known for centuries. They can be terribly annoying sometimes but when things get rough they will always have your back. Saracen patted his shoulder.

“Don´t worry. She´ll come around. It won´t be easy to bring her back but we´ll try our best, okay?”

Saracen smiled at him and Ghastly smiled back. Right. They could do this. Together. They were the Dead Men after all. They had done much harder things.

There was only one problem now. With this temporary distraction gone, Ghastly would have no choice but to go back to doing all this horrible paperwork. Was it just him or had it gotten more? It definitely had. An ever-growing mountain of paperwork getting ready to swallow his life whole. He sent an imploring look at Saracen but he just laughed.

“Forget it! I´m not helping you. This is your job, not mine.”

Ghastly sighed. Even his friends betrayed him! Now he would have no choice but to take on this fearful adversary all by himself. He didn´t even know all of these forms! What did these even do?! Ghastly sighed again.

“Mist would´ve known how to do this. We should´ve just taken her prisoner then this would all be so much easier. Still, I´m just really happy she´s gone.”

Saracen laughed and if it sounded a little nervous that was surely just in his head. “Yeah, right. No idea where she is now.”

\--------------------

The night was dark but that had never mattered much to Saracen. He didn´t need light to see. The same could not be said for Mist. It had not been hard to track her. Her energy was quite distinctive. Within just a few hours, she had been found. The others wouldn´t even have time to notice he was gone.

A portal opened next to Saracen and a giant warlock stepped through. Charivari came alone. Just as they had agreed on. When the warlock spotted the person on the ground next to him, his face broke into a vicious smile. Her veil had been ripped from her face and scared, black eyes looked up at the two of them. Spiders were still crawling under her pale skin but the cuffs prevented her from using her powers.

“So you have kept your word, Old One.”

“Of course I did. I just did not want innocent people to come to harm.”

Charivari´s smile grew wider. He looked perhaps a bit too pleased with himself.

“I look forward to working with you in the future”, he said.

Saracen answered with a curt nod and then turned around to make his way back to the city. Behind him Charivari was dragging Mist towards his portal. To the other warlocks whose friends and family she had killed. He could hear her muffled, terrified screams of protest. She was right to be scared. They would not be kind.

Saracen did not look back.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I´m actually kind of proud of this chapter? At least of the first part, not sure about the second. It might be one of the fluffiest things I´ve ever written which says a lot about how much fluff I write.


	12. Tying up loose ends-Part 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dealing with Darquesse in a way that vaguely makes sense in this universe. It also involves actually talking to people about your problems.

The battle of Roarhaven had been a few weeks ago now. Mist and China were still gone and Tanith was still there. The peace between the sanctuaries had held so far but it was still an uneasy one. No one was actually sure where they stood right now but most sanctuaries no longer wanted to fight. Ravel had a few meetings with the ruins of the Supreme Council set for later this week and they could hopefully agree on a lasting peace treaty there.

Meanwhile the Dead Men who were not busy with paperwork and politics had been busy with other stuff. They had managed to get back Fletcher because it turned out that Saracen and those witches were old friends. Whatever that meant. Valkyrie definitely didn’t want to know. It was still nice to have Fletcher back. He had been entirely unharmed and was actually kinda disappointed to be “rescued” from a bunch of attractive witches who all loved his teleporting powers. He had complained about that for the next week or so but Valkyrie knew he was actually glad to be back.

Darquesse was another thing. With the current crisis averted, people had turned back to the other threat to the world. They had been having meetings for weeks, talking about how to find and how to stop her. Skulduggery and Valkyrie had attended but not really joined into the discussion. How could they? They hadn’t been honest with their friends and Valkyrie felt guilty about that. She could trust these people. But could she trust them with this?

During every single one of those meetings she had felt Saracen’s eyes on her. He knew. And he also knew that she knew that he knew. So why didn’t he say anything? Why hadn’t he told the others yet? He didn’t seem to be judging her. He just watched. And waited. Valkyrie hated waiting. She ignored his stares, pretended not to notice. She didn’t try to come to him and talk. There was nothing to talk about. There was a monster inside her and they would have to stop her or the world would be destroyed. What was there to talk about? That was just how it was.

In the end, he came to her.

The meeting was over. Just another meeting about the destroyed god-killer weapons. What they could do now to make sure Darquesse would die. That she would die. But her friends didn´t know that. Maybe she shouldn´t attend those meetings. Then she wouldn´t know their plans once they had to fight her. Maybe they would have a shot then. They had Saracen after all.

Sometimes she wondered whether Saracen could kill her. Darquesse was strong but not invincible. Her powers would run out eventually. Lord Vile would have been able to kill her the last few times they fought. It had been comforting to know that Skulduggery would always be able to stop her. She didn´t think that he could stop her now. Darquesse was getting more powerful. Her voice was getting louder. Lord Vile might not stand a chance against her anymore.

Saracen was another thing. He was probably not more powerful than Vile but his magic worked differently. It was closer to Darquesse´s own. He could absorb her energy and then use it against her. Could Darquesse do that too? She probably could. She just hadn´t known before. Or maybe she truly couldn´t. Saracen had said that people who knew their true names became unstable. Mentally as well as physically. That´s why his cult had done this whole taken-name-thing. They sacrificed power for stability. Maybe Darquesse was too unstable to channel power like Saracen did? She hoped that was the case. It might give him an edge over her in a fight. Even with the sceptre and the other god-killers gone there might still be someone who could stop her.

Saracen was here now. Alone with her. He wanted to talk to her. Had for quite some time now judging by the stares. But what did he want?

“You´re Darquesse”, he said. 

Valkyrie didn´t bother answering. It wasn´t a question. He didn´t need confirmation because he knew. That was his thing after all. Always had been.

“You´re Darquesse and that scares you”, he continued. “It scares you so much and you don´t want to tell the others because you think they´ll hate you. You think they can´t help you anyway. But you´re wrong. Nothing is broken yet. You haven´t destroyed the world yet. We can still fix this. Just let us help.”

“How?”, Valkyrie asked. She had thought about this before and Saracen was right. She should tell the others. She should at least tell her friends. But she couldn´t. There was no way to help her.

“Become like me.”

And wasn´t that a nice alternative. Losing her elemental powers would hurt, sure. But the new ones would be quite awesome too. And her friends would be safe. The voice inside her head would be gone. She wished it were possible. Then everything would be so easy. But it wasn´t.

“I have already taken a name.”

“I know. We´ll work something out.”

Then Saracen left the room. 

Valkyrie still believed that telling the others was pointless but she had to admit that she was thinking about it. It sounded so nice. Tell the others and find a solution. Together. But there was no solution. She knew that. Yet she still felt her belief in that statement waver more and more.

It wasn´t really much of a choice in the end. The others deserved to know. They were having another one of their Darquesse-crisis meetings. Officially they were also discussing Mist´s disappearance but there was no news on that front. They had searched for weeks and found nothing. It was like she had just vanished of the face of the earth. She was still considered a priority but most of them had given up. There was nothing. Not even Saracen knew anything. So they discussed Darquesse. Not that there was much news on that front either. At least, not as far as the others knew. They were in the middle of another discussion about finding an ancient weapon called the void dagger whose powers were supposed to be similar to the god-killers when Valkyrie stood up.

“I´m Darquesse”, she said. “It´s my true name.”

Well, she could have handled that better. Everyone was just sorta staring at her in shock. Even Skulduggery tilted his head in that specific I-did-not-expect-this way. She hadn´t told him about her plan. He wouldn´t have liked it. He still hadn´t told the others about Lord Vile after all. Only Saracen smiled. It was that really smug I-told-you-so smile. Well, he had told her so. It was still annoying.

The silence went on for a few more minutes with everyone just processing that new information and Saracen smiling at everyone apparently satisfied. Valkyrie felt out of place. She was still standing. Should she sit down? Or should she wait until someone said something? She hated waiting but she didn´t know what to do and most of all she hated not knowing! She always knew what to do! She was the coolest person on the planet for god´s sake! But she was also a future genocidal maniac. So she waited and stood there even if their stares made her skin crawl.

Dexter was the one who finally broke the silence with a simple “Okay.”

Valkyrie couldn´t believe it. “Okay? That´s all you have to say to this? I´m going to destroy the world!”

Dexter only shrugged. “Well, I don´t assume you will just do it on a whim, will you? Something will turn you into a genocidal maniac but that is not you. We will just stop whatever that might be and everything will be okay. We can work something out.”

Valkyrie felt light-headed. How could he be so damn casual about this? This was huge! This was the secret she had been desperately trying to hide for the past few years and now everyone just thought it wasn´t a big deal. The world was swimming in front of her eyes. All the energy that had build up while making her confession simply left her. She felt hollow. She should probably sit down.

Valkyrie flopped back onto her chair like a marionette whose strings have been cut and burrowed her head in her arms. Meanwhile the conversation around her continued. The others actually knew very well how huge of a thing that was. Darquesse was dangerous. People would kill her if they got the chance and they couldn´t even really blame them. Darquesse was a threat to everything in existence. She had to be stopped. 

But this was Valkyrie. The little girl who had come into Ghastly´s shop all these years ago after her uncle had died. The teenager who hadn´t been able to concentrate as soon as Dexter took his shirt off. The person who complained endlessly about walking. Skulduggery´s best friend who had dragged him out of the darkness after Serpine. She fought for what she believed in and even if she was selfish and annoying sometimes she was also brave and strong and a good person. She would die for the people she loved and to save the world for those she didn´t even know.

This was not a heartless monster. This was their friend. And they would protect her.

So they discarded the plans they had made for stopping and killing Darquesse and started over. Valkyrie went to sleep in one of the countless empty rooms of Roarhaven but the others stayed awake and kept working. Skulduggery, because of course he had known, filled them in on how she had found her true name and started to hear Darquesse´s voice in her head. How she had started to come out more and more often. It was worrying but being able to think of Darquesse and their friend as separate entities made things easier. Saracen, who had obviously known too, filled them in on the possibility to make Valkyrie like him. It sounded like a good plan despite the big problem of her taken name. That actually sparked another discussion.

“Does it have to be the taken name that is changed?”, asked Gracious after pouring over obscure literature on the nature of names for hours. It was all very dull. Also no one seemed to know anything for sure. It was all just theories.

“Well, I don´t know. It just always has been. You can freely choose your taken name but your given name is, well, given. I suppose waiting with the name-giving until you find out the true name is possible but not very practical. Also she already has a given name, so that doesn´t help us.”

“Well, yeah but you can change given names”, insisted Gracious. “You know, as in legally. Would that work? Or would it just count as a taken name? I mean, your given name changes after you marry and it still works, so why shouldn´t this?”

Ravel put down his stack of books. “Are you suggesting we legally change her name to Darquesse?”

“Well, yeah. I mean, what do we have to lose? Either we stop Darquesse from taking over or Valkyrie has a stupid name now. It´s actually not that stupid. Just a bit weird. So why shouldn´t we try?”

Gracious did have a point there. Ghastly turned to Saracen who was their expert on names. He was actually just as clueless as the others in most things but the Old Ones understanding of names had been fundamentally different, so he at least had a basis to fail to understand these books on.

“Would that work?”, asked Ghastly. Saracen looked thoughtful but ultimately shrugged.

“I don´t know”, he admitted which surprised exactly no one. “It´s not exactly standard procedure but I don´t see why it shouldn´t. It might even be enough to just make it her middle name. Though a parent should probably be present. They did the original name giving, so they have a special connection to it. They mostly attend weddings too though not all of them. I don´t know if it´s necessary but it could help. So, yeah. In theory that should work. Names are weird though, so no idea if it actually will. Trying can´t hurt.”

They all went silent for a while. Just this morning, they had had no idea how to stop Darquesse. They had all done a lot of talking and brainstorming but in the end they had had no idea. Now everything was different. The situation had gotten so much more complex. This no longer was a faceless monster. This was their friend and they might have to kill her to keep everyone else safe. But they actually had a plan now. It wasn´t a very good plan and it might not work out but they had worked with less. This was good, right?

“Okay”, said Ravel. “Who´s gonna tell Valkyrie that she´s gonna get a middle name.”

\--------------------

Valkyrie was woken up by a lot of hushed voices coming from before her bed. 

It was clearly the Dead Men plus the Monster hunters, Fletcher and Tanith, so she wasn’t alarmed. Just a bit annoyed. For famous soldiers and spies they were really quite terrible at being quiet. Valkyrie groaned into the pillow. She had had better mornings but then again she also had worse.

“Okay, I’m up!”, she exclaimed though she had yet to extract her head from under the blanket. “What do you want?”

Silence. A few more whispers.

“Are you sure you’re up?”, asked Gracious. “You don’t look very awake to me.”

“I’m talking to you.”

“Maybe you talk in your sleep?”

“No, I don’t.”

“Well, how should I know that?”

Valkyrie groaned again, threw off the blanket and sat up. Her hair looked like a rat’s nest and she really needed to brush her teeth. She was accustomed to little sleep but this was just annoying. She glared at Gracious even though it was not his fault alone. He still at least had the decency to look apologetic.

“So what is this about? Who’s dying?”, asked Valkyrie.

“Best case scenario, no one”, said Ravel.

“Is this about Darquesse?”

“Yes, of course it is about Darquesse.”

“Okay, then tell me.”

Silence. More nervous glances and whispers. 

“I’m waiting?”

More whispers and fingers pointed at each other. A quick game of rock-paper-scissors. Gracious lost and turned back to her.

“Okay, we have a plan now”, said Gracious. Well, that was good. “We´re going to legally change your name to Darquesse.”

“I´m sorry, what?”

How would that change anything? Were they serious about this?

“Doesn´t have to be your full name. We can just add it as your middle name”, said Saracen.

Oh my god, they really were serious about this. 

“And your parents should come.”

“My parents?!”

This was just getting weirder and weirder. Maybe she was still dreaming? 

“Don´t worry we can wipe their mind later”, Donegan explained. 

That had not been the issue she had with this plan but still good to know. Now she just needed a clue how this would help her except announcing to the whole world who Darquesse really was.

“And how will this stop me from becoming Darquesse and destroying the world?”

“In theory it should give you access to your true name power, like I have, and simultaneously destroy Darquesse as a separate entity. You will be Darquesse and the other Darquesse in your head should seize to exist”, Saracen tried to explain while waving his hands about nervously. 

That actually sounded good? 

“Okay, nice in theory. And in reality?”

Saracen shrugged. “Let´s find out.”

\--------------------

It was really ridiculous how easy mortal things were when you had Geoffrey Scrutinous by your side. They picked up her dad at work and when he asked about what the hell was going on, Geoffrey simply smiled and told him not to worry about it. Easy-peasy.

Valkyrie felt a bit guilty for manipulating her parent like this but it had to be done. They needed him there. The fate of the world depended on it. But her parents couldn’t know. They would worry themselves sick. She couldn’t tell them. Not yet at least. When the violence was over, then she would tell them. 

They arrived at the weird legal building, walked right in and Geoffrey told the woman at the reception that they had an appointment and all the paperwork was already there. Valkyrie signed something, her dad signed too even if it wasn’t legally necessary and it was over within five minutes.

Her name was now legally Stephanie Darquesse Edgley.

She wondered how she would explain this to her parents when they saw her new ID card. Hopefully she wouldn’t have to lie by then. Or Geoffrey would have a lot of work to do.

After the whole thing was over, everyone looked at her expectantly. Something should happen now, right? Did it not work? Valkyrie didn’t feel different.

After a few minutes of awkward waiting, Dexter nudged Saracen.

“Hey, you’re kinda the expert on this. What usually happens now?”

Saracen frowned. “Don’t know. Differs. Beams of light, explosions of power, nothing until a few hours later. The reaction is very individual really and this is a new situation for me too. Sometimes using the new name can kick-start it though. Probably best if her dad does it. Name-giver and all that.”

So everyone looked at Valkyrie’s father who was just sort of staring into the distance. It took a few moments for him to notice that everyone was suddenly paying attention to him and he frowned.

“What is it? Did I do something?”

“Could you call her Stephanie Darquesse once, please?”, asked Geoffrey with a kind smile and Desomd’s frown immediately cleared. He turned to her and said:

“Hello, Stephanie Darquesse.”

Well, that sounded creepy. Still nothing changed. Maybe their plan just didn’t work. She still felt the same. Nothing was different. She-

\--------------------

“She exploded!”, said Ghastly in disbelief.

“Well, I did say that explosions of power were a possibility”, said Saracen who was definitely too relaxed about all of this.

“She goddamn exploded in the middle of the building!”

“Yes, but no one was seriously hurt.”

“I know and I’m glad about that but look at this. The property damage, the memory deletions we’ll have to authorise!” Were those tears in Ghastly’s eyes? “There’ll be paperwork!”

Meanwhile Valkyrie was staring at her hand. It was still undeniably the same hand that had been attached to her body for 18 years now but it looked different. Just by looking at it, she could see the blood vessels tirelessly pumping oxygen from her lungs into her cells where it was converted into energy. She just knew that if she were to push right there, the delicate cycle that preserved her life would break and she would probably die. It was terrifying.

This was the coolest thing she had ever done.

Sure, she couldn´t feel the air currents on her skin anymore and when she snapped her fingers, there were no sparks. The necromancy ring sat on her finger like a dead weight. Her connection to it was gone. She would miss her other powers. She had trained with them for years now and now they were gone.

But something else was gone too. While Darquesse had been getting stronger, she had begun to feel her presence in her head more and more. She had started to hear her voice almost constantly, if only as a whisper. Now there was nothing. Just silence. She was alone in her head once more.

Darquesse was gone.

No, she was Darquesse now. It was her legal name. Wasn´t that weird? She had changed her legal name to save the world. This might be the weirdest thing she had ever done but it had worked. Darquesse was no longer a threat.

She was like Saracen now then. Was this how he saw the world? At first glance, everything looked normal but if she looked closer, swirling colours appeared in her vision. She knew that this was energy. She knew that she could use it. And it was everywhere, she was connected to everything. She could do anything with this if she only put enough force behind it.

The best thing were the people around her. They almost glowed with all that powers. People were mostly orange apparently. The intensity of the colour seemed to be connected to how powerful someone was. The mortal lady from the reception glowed relatively dully. Her father was considerably brighter, descendant of the Ancients and all that, but he was still nothing compared to the sorcerers around her. They blazed like stars in an intense orange that was so bright that it nearly seemed white. 

Only two people had a different, well, she would call them aura. They looked like auras. Saracen´s was a deep purple and it interestingly wasn´t confined to his body. It swirled around him, merging and connecting with other energies. That probably had something to do with his power then. Did hers look like this too? What colour was it? She would have to ask him later. The other person who looked different was Skulduggery. He always had to be the exception. His aura was a deep, angry blood-red and bits of black swirled within. Was it different because he was a skeleton? Was the black because of Lord Vile? Did necromancers all have a black aura? She had no idea. She hadn´t done this for long yet, after all, but she would find out.

Valkyrie smiled. This was so cool.

For someone who had just exploded, she felt quite well. Actually, she felt amazing. Her clothes were a bit scorched and she had completely demolished the lobby but apart from that everything was fine. She didn´t have to do the paperwork.

“Did it at least work?”, asked Ravel. “Is Darquesse gone?”

Valkyrie looked (thought?) at the empty space in her mind again. It was still empty.

“Yep, all clear. At least, I think so.”

“Good, them I can finally tell the public that our Darquesse-problem is dealt with. We really need a win after all these disasters. Hopefully they will be too happy to think much about how we just almost blew up a public building.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, this might be the longest chapter I´ve ever written.
> 
> I had the whole Making-Valkyrie-like-Saracen thing planned from the start but I never really thought about the how. Then I had to write this chapter and I still had no idea.
> 
> When I first came up with this, I thought it was just my inner crack-writer shining through but it actually kinda makes sense?
> 
> What do you think?


	13. All was well

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> An epilogue of sorts.

Kenny´s mind was still reeling. This would be the story of the century! Sorcerers fighting amongst themselves in secret and Valkyrie, their protagonist, being a threat to the world. Yet at the end everything was neatly resolved and the world was safe once again. Kenny had still no idea how that weird name thing had been solved but it had and that was all that mattered. Some questions remained unanswered of course but they could gloss over those. It would be perfect! It was almost like a novel.

They had accumulated enough material to finally make their documentary movie. When the Grand Mage asked them into his office one last time, they were not suspicious. But the Grand Mage was not there. Someone else was waiting for them in the otherwise empty room.

"Hello, gentlemen", said Geoffrey Scrutinous with a pleasant smile. "Sit down. We have a lot to talk about."

\---------------------

"Don’t you feel kinda guilty about Kenny?", asked Valkyrie as she and Skulduggery got back into the Bentley. 

Skulduggery shook his head. "Don´t worry. Finbar called me yesterday. He had a vision that Kenny won´t entirely forget what happened, only not believe in it anymore. He´s gonna write a pretty decent book about it. In a few years he´ll be famous! This is the best thing that we could have done."

Valkyrie laughed. "A book? Really? That´s cool. At least we´ll get some credit for what we do here. What will he call it? ‚The adventures of Valkyrie Cain´?“

"I think Finbar said something about ‚Skulduggery Pleasant´.“

For a moment, Valkyrie fell silent. Then she laughed again.

"I bet that´s doing wonders for your ego."

Skulduggery tilted his head and adjusted his hat to sit just so. Then he nodded.

"I´ve never claimed otherwise."

Both of them were laughing as they got into the Bentley. They left the new city of Roarhaven and drove back to Haggard, towards the setting sun.

And all was well.

\--------------------

The atmosphere in the Sanctuary was a pleasant one. There was a certain lazy contentment lying in the air. People were happy. Their problems were solved and much easier than expected. Just imagine if they actually would have to fight Darquesse and the warlocks! Thousands of people would have died!

Everyone was just glad that that didn´t have to happen. It had been much easier this way. They still had to find Mist and her mysterious partner and disable the accelerator completely but they had time. Considering their usual work load, two insurmountable problems weren’t that much at all. They had time for one day off. 

The sun was shining and the lake with its new bridge glittered in the light. Roarhaven´s new wall had already been destroyed a bit but the rest of the city had survived. It was truly beautiful. Mist might have been evil but she knew how to plan a city. She was still gone, same as China. They wouldn’t have been able to prove anything anyway, so this was as good as they would get. She would not bother them for a while. But if she ever slipped up, they would be there. Waiting. They knew China had been here too, Kenny had told them as much before they wiped his memory. She had left before they could talk to her though. Good. Skulduggery still hadn´t forgiven her. Still Valkyrie sometimes missed her advice.

Roarhaven was fuller now. A lot of people had moved into the new sorcerer city. Not quite as many as Mist had planned perhaps but still a lot. Maybe they would balance out the old Roarhaven´s anti-mortal feelings. Not that the people of Roarhaven would try anything anytime soon. They were still on thin ice from supporting Mist. They would lay low for a while, not draw attention to themselves. But hopefully the next generation of sorcerers would know better.

Today the new Elder would be elected. Ravel had an idea who it might be but nothing had been decided yet. As he was walking to the meeting together with Dexter, chatting happily, they came upon a familiar face.

"Eric!", Dexter yelled and went to hug the sorcerer. He was an almost complete stranger but Dexter was simply in a hugging mood. "Remember me? You let us into the city!"

"Oh, right!" Eric seemed much less enthusiastic to meet them. "You punched me."

"Yeah, sorry about that."

"No hard feelings? You are the good guys after all?", Eric said. Then he shrugged and went back to whatever he was doing.

With one last wave, Dexter and Ravel continued on their way. Always nice to meet old acquaintances. Ravel thought about promoting Eric. Maybe he wasn´t entirely competent but he had seemed like a nice guy.

Eric waited until the two Dead Men had left and looked around quickly to ensure that nobody was watching. Then he pulled out a phone and selected a contact that was simply called "M".

As he waited, he looked around nervously. He was still alone. Then someone answered and inaudible words were exchanged.

"Yes, my lord, he´s one of them. He survived."

A pause. The person at the other end of the line said something and Eric nodded. His cold, strikingly golden eyes glinted dangerously in the pale light of the corridor.

"Yes, my lord. I´ll make sure of it."

THE END?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, I actually finished this story. I´m proud of myself.
> 
> Sorry about the ending, I just couldn´t resist. Maybe I´ll write a second part, I still have a few ideas. There are also a few Saracen oneshots I still have planned, so that will happen at some point in the future. Not sure when yet.
> 
> Did you like the story? It´s the first longer one I ever posted so some feedback would be nice.  
> I hope you liked it.
> 
> Edit: I have a question. I'm currently rereading LSotDM and the phrasing at one point seems weird to me. I only have the German translation so I don't know if it's just a mistake. In this version Saracen says to Valkyrie he told Ravel what he could do, not what he can. Does anyone know what he says in the English version?


End file.
